Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said no massive changes were made to his defense Saturday against the Wyoming Cowboys, but there was a massive difference in the results.

A week after allowing Toledo to rack up 624 total yards and 54 points, the Buffs shut out Wyoming and new coach Dave Christensen, who had beaten them by the combined score of 113-10 the past two years in his previous role as Missouri offensive coordinator.

CU allowed the Cowboys just 230 total yards from scrimmage a difference of 394 from one week to the next. It was the sixth largest one-week turnaround for the Colorado defense in history.

Defensive coordinator Ron Collins simplified the approach, cut down on the number of substitutions and used players in different roles to make it happen. Collins said he hopes his players have regained some confidence now and can build on that confidence going forward.

"The thing that these guys got to understand is we`ve got a lot of good teams coming up and we`ve got a long ways to go to get better," Collins said. "We have not arrived."

Senior defensive back Ben Burney played safety much of the game, giving the unit more experience than it had the previous two weeks when sophomores Patrick Mahnke and Anthony Perkins and redshirt freshman Ray Polk played there.

Burney said he has practiced throughout fall camp and in the early going this season at both safety and cornerback. He said he feels comfortable at both positions. He said he believes his experience helped against Wyoming.

Burney finished with five tackles and a forced fumble early in the second quarter that led to CU points.

"I think our preparation as a defense led to me being able to make plays out there," he said. "It wasn`t necessarily my innate ability at safety or something like that because I don`t believe I really have that. I just know how to play DB and I go out and do that."

Players said coaches drastically cut back the number of calls and looks they showed the Cowboys and it helped them play more confident and aggressively. It also helped that CU was facing a Wyoming offense that has not scored an offensive touchdown in the past nine quarters of football it has played.

"I think we called three or four plays the whole game," Burney said. "It was the same calls over and over again. It obviously helped a lot."

The Buff defense had been victimized by a slew of big plays in the first outings this year. They had surrendered 16 plays of 20 or more yards to Colorado State and Toledo. The Buffs allowed only five plays of 10 or more yards Saturday and three plays went for 20 or more.

"Guys were running around making plays, not worrying about making mistakes," senior linebacker Marcus Burton said.

Colorado put pressure on three different Wyoming quarterbacks who played in the game and came away with four sacks, including the first from a defensive lineman this year from Marquez Herrod. Linebacker B.J. Beatty made two sacks and Doug Rippy had one.

Collins credited his players for playing their best game to this point, but he acknowledged the Buffs might not be able to afford the luxury of such simple game plans going forward, particularly when Big 12 Conference play arrives next month.

"There is going to be a certain amount of complexity," Collins said. "You can`t just sit in one coverage against all the offenses that are coming up and we`re facing."

Collins said he won`t put his players in a position where they can`t be successful. He said if a situation comes up where players are struggling, he will reexamine his approach. Burney said players will be able to absorb more and perform better as the season wears on.

"I think, as the season goes, players mature," he said. "And we`ll definitely mature and be able to do whatever our coaches ask us to do."