Despite holding an all-time 93-41 record against Colorado State, Colorado has only managed a 37-30 record on the road.
A 72-55 win over the Rams was the final score in the most recent matchup between Colorado and Boulder last year.
In contrast, Colorado's March Madness team from two years ago lost to Fort Collins. It featured four current NBA players: Cody Williams, Tristan da Silva, and KJ Simpson for Colorado, and former Buff Nique Clifford for Colorado State.
The crowd will always bring it in Fort Collins, so this should be an intense game.
Colorado looking for bragging rights - and to stay perfect
With an 8-0 record, Colorado enters this game unbeaten, while Colorado State stands at 6-2. Colorado has the chance to add a Quad 1 victory to their resume if they can get the job done, and that isn't going to be easy.
Rams junior guard Josh Pascarelli, who is second on the team in scoring at 14.4, will be a player to keep an eye on. He dropped a season-high 28 points in the win over South Florida last Friday, going a perfect 8-of-8 from downtown. He missed just one shot the entire game, going a near perfect 10-of-11 from the field.
Colorado State has four players averaging over ten points per game, including Pascarelli. The team is led by Kyle Jorgensen at 14.9 points, followed by Pascarelli. Junior Carey Booth is not far behind at 14.1, while junior Brandon Rechsteiner rounds out the list at 11.5 points.
The freshman Isaiah Johnson leads Colorado with 15.1 points per game while coming off the bench. At some point, Tad Boyle will likely feature him in the starting lineup, but for now, he provides a dynamic balance between the starters and bench unit.
Colorado is going to need to continue to use that balance and depth in order to secure the victory over Colorado State this weekend. In a hostile atmosphere, it will be hard to overcome the poor start they had against California Baptist.