FORT COLLINS — The Colorado offensive line heard the noise. It was impossible not to.

It was coming from everywhere. Buffaloes fans and non-CU fans alike were taking part in the discourse after the Buffaloes offensive line was manhandled in the team’s disappointing loss last weekend at Nebraska. Shoot, even the team’s head coach and quarterback got in on the action.

“Protection was a problem,” Deion Sanders said in Lincoln. “I’m trying to be polite and say it because I can say the same thing you’re thinking, but if I say it, you’ll say I’m throwing my guys under the bus.”

“How many times did (Nebraska quarterback Dylan) Raiola get touched?” Shedeur Sanders added when asked about why the CU offense was outplayed by the Cornhuskers’.

In the days leading up to the rivalry game against Colorado State on Saturday, things flipped.

It was time to “love them up” as coach Sanders put it. It led to arguably one of the best offensive line performances since the start of last season.

“They just didn’t like what they heard,” the coach said. “It’s not kind for young men to hear how bad they are, consistently. As coaches, we can get on them as well to confirm some things, to challenge them in some manners. They came to play. I’m so darn proud of them.

“It’s important for our line to compete like they competed.”

Shedeur was only sacked once as he completed 73% of his 49 pass attempts for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. The Buffs also finally got the run game going for the first time this season, finishing with over 100 yards on the ground as a team for just the third time in the Sanders era.

“It was great,” Shedeur said. “There was a change (with) everything. We all got together and understood like, we gotta do it. Together, we all stayed as a family and we all stayed as one. Regardless of what (people) try to paint or anything, you can’t put us against each other.”

It wasn’t just motivation that went into this improved performance, though.

CU did some reshuffling, as Deion alluded to during the week, sliding Tyler Brown from right tackle to left guard, replacing Justin Mayers, with Phillip Houston getting his first start as a Buff at right tackle.

This doesn’t mean that this five will continue to be the starting group going forward, either. Coach Sanders made it clear this week that Houston transfer Tyler Johnson also figures to make his way into the lineup at some point. The Buffs are being deliberate about trying to build depth, so that one injury during the season doesn’t derail any progress the o-line has made on the whole.

“That’s not just saying Justin is not in the plans,” coach Sanders said. “That’s not saying that we don’t have several more young men in the plans that we want to have a better rotation.”

After the game, Shedeur and Travis Hunter brought the starting o-line, plus Mayers, to the media room. Just like they did for 60 minutes on the field, they stood behind their star quarterback and star cornerback/wide receiver like the silent protectors they promised to be before the season.

“It was very personal,” Brown said. “It meant everything to go out there and prove the world wrong and prove each other right. Like Coach Prime said, we just had to take it one play at a time and just go out there and be confident and we were. We didn’t listen to the naysayers and we banded together, in fact, and it made us closer. We’re just gonna keep the ball rolling because we’re not satisfied. We’re gonna continue to get better, we’re gonna continue to grow as a group.”