DENVER -- The always talkative George Hypolite had a relatively quiet night on the field Sunday.

But Colorado's standout defensive tackle -- who was double-teamed throughout the Rocky Mountain Showdown -- was all smiles and ready for the tape-recorders and cameras after the Buffs' 38-17 victory over Colorado State.

That's because the 69,619 fans at Invesco Field didn't hear the names Kory Sperry or Kyle Bell called by the public address announcer very often.

Sperry finished with two catches for 11 yards one year after toasting CU for 103 yards and three touchdowns. Bell only mustered 22 yards rushing after racking up 135 yards and a touchdown on 40 carries against the Buffs last season.

"Since we didn't know exactly what they were going to be running we kind of wanted to take away their big threats," said Hypolite, who finished with only four tackles in the stat sheet but opened up some lanes for his teammates by consistently taking on two blockers.

"Gartrell, Kyle and Kory are their big threats, and we kind of wanted to keep them in check. I think our guys did a great job of being where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to do."

Gartrell Johnson finished with 96 yards rushing (7.9 per attempt) but did not get into the end zone.

And, more importantly, Billy Farris never really got comfortable. The Buffs sacked CSU's starting quarterback five times and intercepted him twice.

"We got to the quarterback a little bit," CU defensive line coach Romeo Brandison said. Last year a lack of pressure up front allowed Caleb Hanie to complete 20 of 27 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns. "We won. I'm pleased."

CU only totaled 19 sacks for the entire 2007 season. Linebacker Brad Jones tallied the fifth sack of Farris on a fourth-and-10 late in the fourth quarter to seal the Rams' fate.

"We kind of planned for variations of everything," Jones said. "We just made sure we were sound in our techniques and ready for anything. ... I thought our D-line played an excellent game and I was really proud of them."

CU's defense didn't really know what to expect from first-year CSU head coach Steve Fairchild, who spent a few seasons learning offense under Mike Martz in St. Louis before serving as the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills the past two seasons.

But the Buffs did have some great expectations up front with Hypolite anchoring the defense.

Defensive tackle Brandon Nicholas and defensive end Marquez Herrod each had 1.5 sacks with Jason Brace and Taj Kaynor rotating in and producing a half sack each.

"CSU really came after me pretty good. But my guys, the rest of the D-line, they stepped up and we got sacks. They were just constantly after the quarterback, and I think that's great," Hypolite said. "If we can continually put pressure on the quarterback it's going to help the guys in the back half, it's going to help our linebackers, and we may be able to have some fun this year."