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FACTS & STATS: Site: Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000) -- Morgantown, West Virginia. Television:ESPN. Home Record: Colorado 1-1, WVU 2-0. Away Record: Colorado 0-1, WVU 0-1. Neutral Record: Colorado 0-0, WVU 0-0. Conference Record: Colorado 0-0, WVU 0-0. Series Record: Colorado leads, 1-0.

GAME NOTES: The Colorado Buffaloes and West Virginia Mountaineers take center stage this Thursday, as they clash under the lights of Milan Puskar Stadium in a non-conference showdown.

The Buffs come into the game with a 1-2 record with their most recent game resulting in a 24-0 blanking of Wyoming on September 19th. It marked the team's first shutout since capturing a 42-0 victory over Miami-Ohio two seasons ago. With its confidence now restored, Colorado will try to even its non-conference record before opening Big 12 play against highly ranked Texas on October 10th.

As for WVU, it had a chance to possibly crack the Top 25 in its last outing, but instead allowed Auburn to come from behind for a 41-30 decision on September 19th. It was the first road game and loss of the season for the Mountaineers, who opened their campaign with back-to-back home wins over Liberty and East Carolina.

WVU will now try to get back on track and in the process avenge last year's loss to Colorado, 17-14, in overtime at Boulder. That was the first-ever meeting between the programs on the gridiron.

The Buffs came out slowly in their first two contests, so to correct the situation they used a no-huddle offense to begin the game against Wyoming. The result was a 69-yard drive that ended with a touchdown on their first possession of the game. Colorado went on to post 326 yards of total offense on its way to a 24-0 victory. The biggest difference from prior weeks was the ground attack, which amassed 151 yards and three scores. Tailback Rodney Stewart returned from a hamstring strain and led the way with 127 yards and two touchdowns against Wyoming. The 5-7, 170-pound Stewart isn't all that big, but he showed his toughness with 32 carries in his best effort of the campaign. Quarterback Cody Hawkins had some pressure removed from him thanks to the success on the ground and he threw for 175 yards on 17-of-31 tosses. Hawkins did a nice job engineering the offense and he has now passed for 753 yards, with five touchdowns and four picks after three games. Scotty McKnight is clearly his favorite target with 20 receptions, including five last game. McKnight, who has caught a pass in 27 straight games, had 77 receiving yards against Wyoming and a rushing touchdown.

Colorado clearly turned in its best defensive performance of the season against Wyoming, limiting the Cowboys to just 230 total yards in a shutout victory. It was quite an effort by the defense, which had allowed an average of 38.5 ppg and 500 total ypg through the first two games. The Buffs did a terrific job in holding Wyoming to only 76 rushing yards, while allowing the Cowboys to make only 4-of-18 third down conversion attempts. The unit even did nice work getting to the quarterback, recording four sacks in the win. B.J. Beatty accounted for two for those sacks, and Jeff Smart finished with six tackles. Smart currently tops the roster with 29 stops on the year and the linebacker also has an interception and sack to his credit.

Despite jumping out to a 21-10 lead and rolling up 509 yards of total offense, the Mountaineers were unable to defeat Auburn because of costly mistakes. WVU turned the ball over six times and those miscues resulted in 24 points for Auburn in a 41-30 setback. The Mountaineers have now committed 10 turnovers through the first three games and that has overshadowed their production of 485.3 total ypg. Quarterback Jarrett Brown accounted for five of the miscues, including four picks and he was even knocked from the game late in the fourth quarter. The dual-threat gunslinger did throw for 221 yards and a score, in addition to rushing for 66 yards, but none of it mattered because of the turnovers. Brown, who is listed as questionable with a wrist injury, is much better than he showed last game and for the season he has completed 68.5 percent of his tosses for 798 yards and five scores. He has also rushed for 208 yards and another touchdown. Jock Sanders is his go-to-guy and he ranks among the top receiver around with 29 catches and 309 receiving yards. The talented Sanders did most of his damage last game, catching a school-record tying 12 balls for 115 yards and a touchdown. Tailback Noel Devine also enjoyed a successful game against Auburn, as he toted 15 times 127 yards and three touchdowns. The speedy and elusive Devine already has five touchdowns, one more than he scored all of last year, and he is averaging 6.3 yards per carry on the campaign.

Defensively, the Mountaineers did what they could against Auburn, as the unit was put in bad spots over and over due to the six turnovers by the offense. WVU did give up 400 yards to Auburn, but it also held one of top ground attacks to just 100 yards on 41 attempts. The defense, which is allowing just 83.7 rushing ypg on the season, did a solid job despite two key losses due to injury in linebacker Reed Williams (foot) and defensive tackle Scooter Berry (shoulder). Both players are listed as questionable, although they are both expected to return and make an immediate impact. J.T. Thomas has stepped up his play for the defense and he had a team-high nine stops against Auburn. For the season, Thomas leads WVU with 22 tackles, including 4.5 for losses.

The Mountaineers are a bit banged up, but nothing too serious, and they should have their way against Colorado. WVU's electric offense will be too much for the Buffs to handle and its defense should also have success in shutting down Colorado's inconsistent attack.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: West Virginia 31, Colorado 13