The University of Utah defeated the Colorado Buffaloes 64-22 in DIA West action, improving the Utes to 3-0 and sole possession of 1st in the conference.

Colorado, 2-0 going into the game, falls to 2-1.

Utah Coach John Law said that Colorado is greatly improved from last year, and added “they will be a force in the years to come.”

Law said the Buffs started the game with more passion, and they took an early lead as a result. But the Utes leadership, with Gabe Rufflin among them, settled things down soon enough.

“Our space manipulation was quite good,” said Law. “However, we have some work to do on certain core skills to make space exploitation more effective. Our younger guys lost defensive connections a bit, but on the whole we felt good about our defensive effort today.”

Chad Gough continued his good run of form and Benjamin Mills did well at tighthead prop, while Nate Kingsford was impressive at halfback.

Rufflin not only led well but ran well, while fullback Casey Raymond sliced up Colorado’s defense from fullback more than once.

“This team is learning quickly that opportunistic rugby comes a lot easier when it's balanced with structured rugby and that both are needed to become a powerful side,” said Law.

Next up for Utah is Air Force.