About halfway through Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins' press conference earlier this week, a reporter stopped writing down the coach's words raving about this week's opponent to pose a simple question.

To that point, Hawkins' honest assessment had made the No. 3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners sound unbeatable, superhuman even. Definitely not your typical homecoming opponent.

"They are really good," Hawkins said. "There are no real weaknesses. They can throw it. They can run it. They are big up front. They've got speed. They have receivers, running backs. Same thing on defense. They are big and fast. They have a very good kicking game, all the way around, kickers, punters, returners are very solid all the way around.

"They are one of those teams that when you watch them — typically you don't do this much at this level anyway — but you don't look at anybody and say, 'Oh I bet we can get this on that guy.' There is none of that here. They are a very complete football team."

So the reporter asked the most logical question under the circumstances.

"Can you beat them?"

No football coach in his right mind is going to answer in any other way in any week regardless of the opponent than Hawkins did. But considering the Buffs are 2-2 this season with a lot of question marks and 4-12 under Hawkins, the question cried out for an answer.

"Totally, anybody is beatable and anyone can beat you," he said.

It doesn't matter that few in the room believed in what Hawkins was saying when it comes to this particular game. What matters is whether his players believe it. And today we find out when the Buffs host the highest scoring team in the country at Folsom Field (11:30 a.m., Fox Sports Net).

Oklahoma comes to town 4-0 and the prohibitive favorite to repeat as Big 12 Conference champions and maybe evenplay for a national title. In his last two meetings with Colorado, coach Bob Stoops has beaten the Buffs by the combined score of 66-6.

The Sooners have scored at least 51 points in every game so far this season, despite using a redshirt freshman at quarterback.

Sam Bradford ranks as the second-most efficient passer in the country through the first month of the season, completing 78 percent of his passes with 14 touchdown passes and two interceptions.

He is surrounded by talent that will tax a CU defense which has performed well to this point in the season. The Buffs are faced with stopping a running game led by tailback Allen Patrick that averages more than 250 yards per outing. They are also expected to stop a passing game that gobbles up more than 300 yards a game with a pair of talented wide receivers, Malcolm Kelly and Juaquin Iglesias, doing most of the damage.

Everyone on the CU side of the ball needs to play today on par with the sort of season linebacker Jordon Dizon is putting together. Dizon is leading the nation in tackles and seems to be in on every play all over the field.

Even if the CU defense does find a way to slow down the Sooners, the Buffs on offense will have to play much better than they have in any game so far in the Dan Hawkins era.

CU is coming off a 42-0 victory over Miami (Ohio), but this is a much better opponent. Prior to racking up more than 350 rushing yards a week ago, the Buffs running game lacked any punch in losses to Arizona State and Florida State. It produced a total of 5 yards on 51 carries in those games. The Sooners rank No. 4 in the nation against the run.

The Buffs have added true freshmen offensive linemen Kai Maiava to the starting lineup and fellow true freshman Ryan Miller will see plenty of playing time as well. Whether they make a difference will be one key to the contest.

If the Buffs are unable to run the ball once again, quarterback Cody Hawkins might be forced to throw the ball more than 50 times, as he did against FSU.

Hawkins has been a mixed bag so far. He has led the Buffs on long drives against every opponent this season, but he also has made the sort of mistakes and miscalculations expected from a youngster. He has thrown six interceptions, a number that would be higher if not for several drops by defenders.

This is the highest ranked team Dan Hawkins has ever coached against. He nearly pulled off an upset a year ago when the Buffs played at then-No. 9 Georgia.

"You need to do the things that are within your control and certainly, there have been enough opportunities for us around here in the past couple of years to be able to do that," he said. "That is really what we focus on."