The Anticipation. The History. The Rivalry.

Heading into the stadium, no matter if you were a Rammie or bleed black and gold, you had plenty to cheer for before the 2016 Rocky Mountain Showdown at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, where the Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos play.

And while many expected a tight game in the much-anticipated annual showdown, CU dominated in a landslide as they pummeled the CSU Rams by a score of 44-7.

Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre was impressed with the win, but he also understands that this is only the beginning. “We have to keep stepping in the right direction. Now we’ve got to see how we handle things having a little bit of success really early,” he said postgame.

One of the bigger storylines heading into the season for the Buffs was how Senior quarterback Sefo Liufau would play as he sat out the latter part of last season due to a lisfranc injury. He finished with a normal Liufau stat line of 318 passing yards, completing 23-of-33 attempts while also having 66 yards on the ground. Liufau looked as if he hadn’t skipped a beat.

Running back Phillip Lindsay, who finished with 20 rushing attempts for 95 yards and two TDs, was excited to have his senior quarterback back. “It’s great to have Sefo back because he is a natural born leaders and he is able to catch onto things,” he said.

As for Liufau, he had mixed feelings on his team’s performance. “It means a lot to be able to out there and put up a performance like that. You can do all the talking that you want as a team, but once the real bullets start flying, it’s really put up or shut up. I think for the most part we did that tonight.” He said. But like most great quarterbacks, he still found ways to critique the offense. “We could have put a lot more points up on the board, even though CSU is a great defense I just think we weren’t executing as we could have.”

CU hopes that a win in such convincing fashion, especially against an in state rival, serves as a kick start for the Buffs season as they look forward to a tough road still with much to prove.

Wide receiver Devin Ross, who finished with eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown spoke on the upcoming season. “Our motto this year is ‘To Rise’ right now and that was just a good statement. It’s good to show what we are working on and what’s to come and that was just a start, that’s not anything close to what we have going this year, so I’m ready for the rest too.”

Interesting Facts:

Attendance up as it reached 69,850.
Total yards after first quarter was CU 253, CSU 10.
The Buffs have forced a turnover in 14 consecutive games.
Sefo Liufau became the all-time leading passer in CU history
Bryce Bobo’s one-handed catch appeared as No.3 on SportsCenter’s Top-10 Countdown
It was the first time an OL scored a touchdown for CU since Heath Irwin in 1995.