Mike MacIntyre has spent the first two seasons of his tenure with the Colorado Buffaloes doing a lot of talking about what his team could be. We’re two games into Year 3. Eventually, his players need to show they have been listening.

A 48-14 win over UMass doesn’t do much to move the needle outside of Boulder. It was a game Colorado was supposed to win ... which they did. But it was how they won, especially coming off of a disappointing road loss in Week 1 in Hawaii, that has MacIntyre encouraged.

The Buffs plowed ahead for 390 rushing yards -- their highest rushing output in nearly a decade -- and looked dominant at the point of attack. MacIntyre made a point after the victory to tell his guys that UMass was a better football team than Hawaii. Perhaps he’s right. Perhaps it was just motivation.

Either way, with a rivalry game against Colorado State Rams looming this weekend, MacIntyre needs his guys to stop merely listening, and actually start believing.

“You can tell them all you want,” MacIntyre said. “Until they truly see it and do it and believe it and reinforce it does it take root. And I believe it’s definitely taken root.”

Michael Adkins II led a potent rushing attack, netting 119 yards and a touchdown, while Christian Powell added 105 yards and two scores on the ground. The offensive line also looked outstanding. The first five touchdowns for Colorado came on the ground with the line paving the way for a 6.6 per carry average, including an average of 9.1 yards per play on first down.

Absent from Week 2 were the Week 1 mishaps and mistakes that killed Colorado’s momentum in an eventual 28-20 loss. Putting that sort of positive performance on film -- and not just hearing about it from MacIntyre -- could be a turning for a program that has struggled for relevancy since joining the conference.

“It validates it to the players,” MacIntyre said. “I kept telling them they need to show themselves. I know what I’ve been saying. I know the culture change and a lot of the things that are going on daily that I see. I’ve seen it progress. They needed to show themselves. I definitely believe a lot of them showed themselves and they now believe more and more, and that’s important as you’re trying to rebuild and keep moving in the right direction.”

Saturday’s matchup with CSU in Denver is different animal. MacIntyre wants his players to toe the line between treating it like any other game, while also having the motivation and emotion befitting a rivalry game. Each team enters the week 1-1, and each has suffered a heartbreaker. Colorado in Week 1, and Colorado State last week at home in overtime against Minnesota. This is a critical game – regardless of the rivalry implications – for both teams.

“This isn’t coach-speak,” MacIntyre explained. “Every game is pivotal. Just lose one, right? There are a lot more ties to it, a little bit more emotion. The stadium is split basically in half. I think it’s a big game for both teams. But every game matters a lot.”

Last week was just the 17th time in school history that the Buffs played a college football game without committing a turnover and allowing a sack. For the record, they are 15-2 when that happens. Historical relevance aside, MacIntyre pointed to that number as a reason for why the offense was able to keep its tempo.

“That was the key,” he said. “We were able to keep our rhythm going. When we do that, we’re bigger, we’re stronger, our backs are more powerful, we stay on backs better. That enabled us to run the ball better.”

And the numbers back it up. He isn’t just talking.