Colorado takes care of business against Hawaii and gets ready for Cal's red hot offense

1. The word I would best use to describe Colorado's performance is ____________ because ________________.

Patrick Cormier: Follow on Twitter Necessary , because Colorado has shown improvement so far this season and this matchup at home against a lowly Hawaii program provided a good opportunity for the Buffs to grab a victory and they seized it.

Patrick Ghidossi: Follow on Twitter Acceptable. The Buffs looked like they were gonna run away with this one at halftime but the offense stalled numerous times in the second half. Thankfully the defense stepped up and shut down the Warriors in the red zone, sealing the much-needed win. The Buffs did just enough.

Trace Travers: Follow on Twitter I'll pull a Matthew McConaughey and say it was alright, alright, alright. Beating the teams you're supposed to at home is a step forward for the Buffaloes, considering that they now have teams that they are supposed to beat. The lack of offense in the second half may be a point for concern.

Sam Barbee: Follow on Twitter I'll say decent. As impressive as the first half way, the second half was a little disappointing. Yeah they got past Hawaii, but they had to hold on for dear life at the end.

Jack Follman: Follow on Twitter Okay. Colorado absolutely needed to win this game since it was the last game on their schedule where they should be favored and they will need every single win they can get going into full Pac-12 play to have any shot at a bowl.

What are your thoughts on the Buffs through the first trimester?  How would you grade their chances on beating Cal based on what you’ve seen?

Patrick Cormier: The program is heading in the right direction, I just don’t know how far along they are yet. I think that Cal dominates next weekend even with the Buffs ability to put points on the board.

Patrick Ghidossi: The CSU game was massively disappointing but the team has rallied nicely since then. The offense, today’s 2nd half aside, has really played well. The defense has shown flashes of skill and today they were rarely caught out of position.  However, I don’t think they have the depth along the front line to really hold back the better offenses in the Pac-12. I think Cal wins by a score or two next weekend but it’ll be a shoot-out.

Trace Travers: While I feel Colorado has improved, I think they’re still at the bottom of the Pac-12. I think they get put down next weekend by a Cal team on a mission for redemption.

Sam Barbee: The loss to Colorado State is a bad one, but the loss to Arizona State isn’t (somehow they can’t beat state universities), but the 41-38 win over UMass isn’t a good win, although it’s a win. This Buffs team will have to improve to make noise in the Pac 12, but we will have to wait and see.

Jack Follman: The Buffs have slightly underperformed to what I thought they would be going into the season, so I would not grade them out well. They needed to beat Colorado State to show that they are improving from last season, but didn’t do that and have since looked middling against Hawaii, barely beaten woeful UMass and lost convincingly at home to Arizona State.

I do not think they have a good shot at beating Cal, based on how improved the Bears have looked thus far in and with Colorado’s inability to put up a ton of points if they get into a shootout.