Joel Klatt believes Colorado beating UCF should 'shut up all those naysayers'

Colorado turned heads this past weekend with its convincing 48-21 blowout win over UCF. On Wednesday, FOX Sports’ analyst Joel Klatt raved about the Buffaloes’ performance.

“If they stick with that and continue to develop their run game, continue to develop this 11 personnel package — they could plausibly, at their ceiling, beat anybody in the Big 12,” Klatt said. “That’s why last weekend was such a massive game, not just for Colorado, but for the entire conference and maybe even the country.

“It should shut up all those naysayers about like, ‘He’s only flash. Deion can’t coach. He’s a marketer.’ Really, because that adjustment and what they did was schematic brilliance, and I loved it.”

The “11 personnel” that Klatt’s referring to is when an offense runs three wideouts, one tight end and a running back — the same offense that Colorado so successfully ran on Saturday.

The addition of a tight end widened Colorado’s line of scrimmage, giving quarterback Shedeur Sanders more time to make reads. Further, it created a seventh run gap, forcing the defense to consider more threats. It’s the most common offensive scheme in the NFL.

Colorado’s win over UCF was the first time the Buffaloes have ran the 11 personnel scheme for the majority of a game this season. The look caught UCF defensive coordinator Ted Roof offguard.

“They were predominantly, about 80% of the time, in four wideouts and one running back (10 personnel) and last night, they went into 11 personnel, which includes a tight end, 67% of the time so they totally flipped the script on what they had done,” Roof said.

The script worked well for the Buffaloes. The team finished the game with 418 yards, including a season-high 128 rushing yards. Colorado’s offense was extremely efficient, only committing one turnover and connecting on 28-of-its-35 pass attempts.

With the win, Colorado improved to 2-0 in conference play and is currently tied for first place in the Big 12 standings. The Buffaloes will enjoy a bye this week before having another chance to show to show off its revamped offense.

On Oct. 12, Colorado will go head-to-head with No. 20 Kansas State at 10:15 ET. The game will air live on ESPN.