The "Blackout" at Folsom Field on Thursday night was an incredible success for Colorado.

But despite the 17-14 overtime upset over No. 21 West Virginia and glossy 3-0 record, you get the feeling the color head coach Dan Hawkins and his staff will be focusing on next week is yellow.

As in stop drawing so many penalty flags.

"You'd love as time goes on to get that ironed out and be more of a smooth operating machine," Hawkins said. "But I'll take the win. They're a good football team and I'll take the win."

CU escaped with the victory over the Mountaineers despite committing seven penalties for 55 yards. The young Buffs had eight penalties for 58 yards against Colorado State and 10 penalties for 70 yards against Eastern Washington.

"I think we just had a couple stupid penalties and some miscommunication," quarterback Cody Hawkins said when asked what happened to CU's offense after scoring 14 points early in the first quarter. "We have to work on eliminating those mistakes, but you have to credit West Virginia, too. They did a good job rallying around the ball after that."

The Mountaineers also committed seven penalties, including a couple of costly facemasks, for 91 yards.

"They need to have the maturity to look at some of the missed opportunities," Dan Hawkins said of the Buffs. "We'll put this thing to bed tomorrow afternoon, give them Saturday off and then come Sunday it's all about the Seminoles."

CU next plays on Sept. 27 against Florida State.

Crowder honored

CU honored former football head coach and athletic director Eddie Crowder, who passed away on Sept. 9 from complications of leukemia at the age of 77, by painting "Eddie" on the field and also having an "Eddie" sticker on the players' helmets.

Dan Hawkins, who was at Crowder's bedside the night he died, texted his wife earlier in the week and told her to look at the full moon over the Flatirons.

"Eddie's watching us," he said.

Crowder, whose teams in the late 1960s and early 1970s pulled off their share of stunning upsets, would have been proud of this performance. His last words to Hawkins were that he was the right man for the job.

"It's great to get one with (his name) on the field," Hawkins said. "That was special."

Dykes out, Geer in

Starting strong safety D.J. Dykes did not play for the Buffs due to illness. Anthony Perkins started and finished with seven tackles.

Dykes had the game-clinching interception in the end zone against Eastern Washington and tallied 11 tackles in the first two games.

Tight end Riar Geer saw his first action of the season after missing the first two games recovering from arthroscopic surgery. Same story for cornerback Jimmy Smith, who missed the first two games due to back spasms.

Guard rotation

Devin Head returned to the lineup at left guard for the first time since the Colorado State game. The junior, who served a one-game suspension against Eastern Washington, was inserted into the lineup in the second quarter.

Max Tuioti-Mariner, a promising true freshman, started and was in the game for CU's first two touchdowns before being replaced by the more experienced Head. Later in the second quarter, Tuioti-Mariner came in for redshirt freshman Blake Behrens, who has started all three games this season.

Davis delivering

Jameson Davis doesn't touch the football that often but when he does, good things are happening for CU's special teams. The freshman place-kicker had two touchbacks on Thursday night, which gives him five touchbacks on 16 kickoffs this season.

The Buffs had just six touchbacks on 63 kickoffs in all of 2007.

Twelve of Davis' first 14 kickoffs were not returned beyond the 25, including the touchbacks. That figure was 23 of 66 last year.

The one breakdown CU's kickoff coverage had this season was during the opener against Colorado State when the Rams' John Mosure returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to answer Josh Smith's 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Scary moment

On the third snap of the game the "Blackout" crowd was silenced after West Virginia's J.T. Thomas lay motionless on the field after a helmet-to-helmet hit on CU fullback Maurice Cantrell.

The stretcher and paramedics rushed to Thomas' side but after a couple minutes the weak side linebacker got up and walked to the sideline under his own power. A relieved Dan Hawkins gave counterpart Bill Stewart a hug and play resumed.

"I'm fired up that kid's going to be OK," Hawkins said. "That was a scary thing and I'm glad he got up."

Thomas did not return to the game.

Thursday history

This marked the third time CU played a game on a Thursday night. The Buffs defeated Stanford 21-17 on Sept. 6, 1990, in Boulder and Missouri 6-0 on Oct. 8, 1992, in Columbia.

Fort fun

The last time West Virginia visited the Centennial State it defeated Colorado State 52-24 in Fort Collins on Sept. 13, 1980.

The Buffs will make their first trip to West Virginia next season when they face the Mountaineers in Morgantown on Sept. 26, 2009.

Notable, part I

Patrick Devenny has six catches on third or fourth down and five of them have produced first downs. ... CU's two touchdowns in the first 4:50 of the game were the fastest pair by the team since Nov. 23, 2001, when the Buffs took a 14-0 lead on Nebraska just 3:13 into the game en route to a 62-36 victory. ... CU did not score in the first quarter against CSU or Eastern Washington. ... The Buffs extended the nation's fourth longest active scoring streak to 238 games. ... Former Fairview standout Arthur Jaffee saw his first collegiate action on the kickoff return. ... Dan Hawkins' teams are now 8-1 after a bye week. ... CU is 3-0 for the first time since 2004. ... West Virginia's 43 yards passing were the fewest CU has allowed since Baylor had 40 against the Buffs on Nov. 13, 1999 in Waco.

Notable, part II

Former Buff linebacker Ted Johnson, the 1994 runner-up for the Butkus Award, attended the game. ... West Virginia used about 4,400 of its 5,400 allotted tickets, bringing one of the largest nonconference visiting crowds to Boulder in history. ... Fifteen scouts from the National Football League worked the game, setting a new record for a CU home game. Former Buffs Dave McCloughan and Kent Kahl were among them. Both work for San Francisco. ... CU officials said 598 media credentials were issued, the third most for a game in school history. The top two games on the list were both against Nebraska in 1989 and 2001.