Junior defensive lineman Lamont Lester Jr. rushes the quarterback in the game against Weber State at Folsom field on September 12th, 2026. (Peter FitzGerald/CU Independent)
This piece is from the CU Independent’s opinion section. Any opinions or views do not represent the CU Independent.
Colorado’s first two games have given a pretty clear look at what the defense might be this season. The Buffaloes have been more physical up front, much harder to run against and disruptive enough to change games with one or two plays.
That was good enough to carry Colorado through a 14-13 win at Georgia Tech and helped keep Weber State from making Saturday’s 52-21 win competitive.
But the first two games have also shown where the problems are. Colorado has allowed explosive passes in both games, missed tackles against Weber State and struggled to maintain the same urgency once it built a comfortable lead.
The Buffs look substantially better defensively than they did a year ago, but they do not look finished.
Colorado football defense shuts down the run
The biggest change has been pretty straightforward: teams are not running on Colorado anymore. The Buffs have allowed 178 rushing yards on 59 carries through two games, an average of about 3 yards per attempt. CU has six sacks, three takeaways and has yet to allow a rushing touchdown. For a defense that gave up 222.5 rushing yards per game last season, that is a major shift.
Georgia Tech made the difference especially obvious. A year ago, the Yellow Jackets ran for 320 yards in Folsom Field. This time, Georgia Tech managed just 51 yards on 30 carries. Even that number makes the rushing performance look a little better than it actually was. The Yellow Jackets gained 33 yards on the ground during their opening possession, then gained just 18 for the rest of the game.
Lamont Lester Jr. has been right in the middle of this turnaround. The Monmouth transfer recorded three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss in his Colorado debut, with all three sacks coming on third down. Georgia Tech still managed to find more room through the air, as quarterback Alberto Mendoza threw for 237 yards, including a 42-yard completion on the Yellow Jackets’ final possession that moved them into position for a potential game-winning field goal.
That is where defensive back Boo Carter entered the story. With three seconds remaining and Colorado up by one, Georgia Tech lined up for a 45-yard attempt. Carter came around the edge and blocked it, preserving the win.
It technically came on special teams, but the play fit everything Colorado’s defense had done that night. The Buffs did not overwhelm Georgia Tech on every snap. They just kept finding ways to disrupt something before it could turn into points. Carter had already recovered a fumble earlier in the game, and one week later, Colorado needed him to solve a completely different problem.
Weber State could not consistently run through the Buffs, so it went after the secondary instead. Freshman quarterback Nate Dahle completed only 20 of 48 passes, but he still threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns. Star wide receiver Noah Kjar did most of the damage, finishing with seven catches for 121 yards and two scores.
Early in the second quarter, Kjar got behind Colorado’s defense for a 70-yard reception on third-and-10. Three plays later, he caught a 6-yard touchdown. For a few drives, Colorado had a problem it had not really faced in Atlanta. One receiver was consistently winning.
So the Buffs moved Carter from outside corner into the slot while third-year Jason Stokes Jr. got an opportunity outside.
“Boo went in the slot and shut that thing down,” head coach Deion Sanders said after the game.
Kjar still caught passes, including a fourth-quarter touchdown, but the explosive gains stopped. After the 70-yard reception, none of his remaining catches went for more than 12 yards. Stokes Jr. made the most of his opportunity, too, finishing with three pass breakups.
That flexibility might be the most interesting part of Carter’s first two games. He does not necessarily need a huge tackle total or multiple interceptions to change what Colorado can do defensively.
Against Georgia Tech, he made the play that preserved the win. Against Weber State, his versatility gave the Buffs another answer when its original matchup was not working. That is a useful player to have when the defense around him is still figuring itself out.
The adjustment did not suddenly make Saturday clean, however. Weber State finished with 372 yards, including 245 through the air. The Wildcats converted eight of 17 third downs and scored three passing touchdowns. Colorado’s players did not seem particularly interested in celebrating any of that.
“We’re really disappointed with our performance,” safety Randon Fontenette said afterward.
“We’re not happy about giving up 21 points,” senior linebacker Tyler Martinez, who got seven tackles, said. “We could have been better throughout the whole game. The standard is a standard.”
That might sound strange after a 31-point win, especially when Colorado still made plenty of defensive plays. Fontenette intercepted Dahle in the first quarter. The Buffs recorded three sacks, broke up 11 passes and stopped Weber State on both fourth-down attempts. Third-year DB Jah Jah Boyd also forced a fourth-quarter fumble that Carson Crawford recovered.
Colorado was disruptive. It just was not consistently sharp.
Linebacker Tyler Martinez described the performance as “sloppy technique” and pointed directly to missed tackles, including some of his own. That showed up in the rushing numbers. Weber State finished with 127 yards on 29 carries and broke off several double-digit runs after Georgia Tech had barely found any room a week earlier.
The bigger concern came through the air. Colorado has allowed 482 passing yards through two games. That number needs some context because Weber State threw 52 passes, but the explosive plays are harder to explain away. Georgia Tech completed a 42-yard pass when it needed one most, and Weber State followed with Kjar’s 70-yarder.
Those are the kinds of plays Colorado can survive when the offense scores 52 points. They become a little more dangerous when the margin looks like it did in Atlanta.
Not all 21 points Weber State scored should be treated the same, either. The Wildcats’ first touchdown came after a Colorado fumble gave them the ball at the Buffs’ 28-yard line. Their final touchdown came with Colorado already leading 52-14. The second touchdown was harder to dismiss, as Weber State went 75 yards with Kjar’s 70-yard reception accounting for almost all of it.
That possession looked less like a short-field problem and more like a reminder that the secondary is still catching up to the defensive front.
The bigger issue Saturday might have been what happened once Colorado stopped needing every possession. The Buffs led 42-14 at halftime, a very different situation from Atlanta, where one mistake could have decided the game. Against Georgia Tech, Colorado did not really have the option of relaxing. Against Weber State, the offense kept scoring, and the defense had to manufacture that same urgency on its own.
At times, it did not.
“When you get up like that, people pull their foot off the pedal,” Fontenette said.
That probably explains Saturday better than any defensive statistic. Colorado did not suddenly stop being able to defend Weber State. The Buffs stopped playing with the same consistency they had shown earlier.
Colorado never let the mess get bad enough to threaten the game, but the players and coaches clearly noticed it. For a defense trying to build its identity around physicality and relentless effort, that matters.
The encouraging part is that the Buffs still found answers when things went wrong. The defensive line kept generating pressure. Fontenette made a play on the ball. Carter moved inside when Kjar became a problem, and Stokes Jr. responded outside. Colorado stopped Weber State on fourth down twice and forced another turnover late.
Those are all signs of a defense capable of adjusting instead of simply hoping the original plan starts working again.
The run defense remains the biggest reason for optimism. Going from allowing 320 rushing yards against Georgia Tech last season to 51 this year is not a minor improvement. Colorado went from being one of the easiest teams in the country to run against to holding its first two opponents to about 3 yards per carry.
That gives the rest of the defense some room to develop.
The secondary still has work to do. Explosive plays have shown up in both games, and Weber State proved teams can find production through the air even when the front is controlling the ground game. Carter might help close some of that gap because he can play outside, move into the slot and attack off the edge. Through two games, Colorado has already needed him in several different ways.
That does not mean the Buffs have solved everything defensively. Georgia Tech showed what Colorado can look like when the front controls the game and every possession demands urgency. Weber State showed what can happen when that urgency starts to fade.
Two wins have given Colorado plenty to feel good about. They have also given the Buffs a pretty simple next step.
Keep the foot on the pedal.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Shruthi Rajesh at shra3446@colorado.edu
