BOULDER — After 30 minutes of football, there wasn’t much separating the 2024 Colorado defense from the much-maligned 2023 version.

Even with a new coordinator and plenty of new personnel, it looked like the same Buffaloes unit that ranked near the bottom in the country in a handful of categories last season.

Players were constantly out of position and it led to big plays in the passing game for a North Dakota State offense that historically thrives with a heavy rushing attack.

Even when the Buffaloes were in a position to get off the field and prevent the Bison from getting into the end zone, a couple of unnecessary penalties (one offsides call and one late hit) kept NDSU drives alive.

It resulted in a 20-17 halftime lead for the Bison.

“Coach chewed us out at halftime,” star cornerback Travis Hunter said. “Let us know what we got to do. We got to get stops.”

The script flipped when CU came out of the locker room after the intermission.

The Buffs were able to get off the field and allowed just six points on a late touchdown that kept the game alive in the final minutes. But even that bothered Deion Sanders.

“Giving up the last touchdown, that bothered me, because we pride ourselves on going to get the quarterback, and we have a multitude of young men that can go get the quarterback, and we didn’t get that done,” Sanders said postgame.

Even with an improved second half, there’s plenty to clean up for a Buffs defense that allowed nearly 450 yards of offense against an FCS opponent, couldn’t finish sacks with the pressure they were generating and was regularly chasing down wide open receivers.

“I mean, we had to get our eyes in the right place,” Hunter said. “We already knew what we had to do, but somehow we took them as a fool. We didn’t respect them enough to come out there and just play how we needed to play in the second half, how we did in the first half. So we had to come out there and just put our eyes in the right spot.”

All of that will need to get fixed quickly with a much tougher task awaiting in Lincoln next Saturday night. A Nebraska offense ready to avenge last year’s dismal performance at Folsom Field will likely be an even tougher team to defend, even with the fact that NDSU got outstanding play from quarterback Cam Miller.

“God, he played good,” coach Sanders said of Miller. “Both of those (quarterbacks) can play well, man. They did what they came to do and were very effective. They did a phenomenal job executing their offense.”

The Buffaloes also might have to cope with the loss of one of their top defenders. Safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig left Thursday’s game in the first half and did not return. Sanders didn’t have an update postgame.

“He’s a leader, he’s a dog,” Sanders said. “He’s one of our defensive guys and losing a guy like that early in the game hurts, and it did.”

Vanderbilt transfer Savion Riley came in place of Silmon-Craig and finished third on the team with seven tackles, including one for loss.

“Cam’s been on him,” Hunter said. “Cam did a pretty good job of helping him out this off season, teaching him the way to go, how you got to treat your body, how you got to go along with everything, and how you have to be in the playbook. Cam did a real good job of doing that. So, we know when (Riley) got in the game, all we got to do is communicate with each other. We’ll be doing what we’ve been doing even if Cam’s not in.”

Even if Silmon-Craig is able to return next week against the Cornhuskers, a similar performance for the CU defense won’t cut it — and even Coach Prime knows that.

“Have you ever felt like you won but you didn’t win?” Sanders said. “We just got to do a better job of executing the scheme and being where we’re supposed to be.”