Ryan Staub completed 7 of 10 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns to lead Colorado to a 31-7 win over Delaware on Saturday in Boulder, Colo.
Colorado (1-1) rotated quarterbacks, with Kaidon Salter starting and Julian Lewis and Staub also seeing action. Staub tossed touchdowns of 21 and 71 yards while Salter hit on 13 of 16 passes for 102 yards and rushed nine times for 26 yards and a touchdown.
Sincere Brown caught four passes for 120 yards and a touchdown, and DeKalon Taylor also caught a touchdown for Colorado. Micah Welch had a rushing touchdown for the Buffaloes.
Nick Minicucci completed 18 of 36 passes for 312 yards, a touchdown and an interception for the Fightin’ Blue Hens (1-1). Jo Silver scored a touchdown, Jake Thaw caught four passes for 85 yards and Ja’Carree Kelly had two catches for 83 yards for Delaware.
Colorado got on the board first as Salter went 6-for-6 on a 12 play, 87-yard scoring drive. He added three rushes for 29 yards on the drive and scrambled for a nine-yard touchdown to give Colorado a 7-0 lead at the 5:39 mark of the first quarter.
Alejandro Mata drilled a 28-yard field goal to extend the Colorado lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter.
With 45 seconds left in the first half, Minicucci’s shovel pass to Silver led to a 4-yard touchdown as Delaware closed the deficit to 10-7. But, Staub engineered a 75-yard scoring drive in just 36 seconds that was capped with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Taylor as Colorado took a 17-7 halftime lead.
Another quick-strike scoring drive opened the second half, as Staub punctuated a three-play drive with a 71-yard TD pass to Brown for a 24-7 Colorado lead.
A blocked punt gave Colorado a short field and led to a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Welch for a 31-7 CU lead with 14:13 left in the game.
The Blue Hens managed just one score in three red-zone trips. They turned it over on downs inside the Colorado 10-yard line on their opening drive of the second half, and then missed a field goal in the closing minutes. The team also fumbled at the end of a 67-yard gain into the red zone early in the fourth quarter, scoring just seven points on seven trips across midfield.
