Colorado football coaches appear to be following the leader with their switch this spring to the hurry-up, no-huddle offense Missouri and Kansas used so effectively last season to produce the best results in the recent history of both programs.

The truth is coach Dan Hawkins and his assistants began talking about using such a scheme at Boulder's high altitude almost as soon as they were hired in December 2005 to replace the coaching staff led by Gary Barnett.

But when Hawkins and his staff first stepped on the field with their new team two years ago this spring, it quickly became obvious they didn't have the talent to pull it off.

So they waited, recruited and studied others. Over the past two seasons CU coaches have taken professional development trips to Oregon, Tulsa, Louisville, Air Force, Boise State, Minnesota and Clemson to study the wide-open approach to offense used in those programs.

Shortly after signing day in early February they decided it was finally time to make the switch to what seems to be the latest rage in the college game.

Oklahoma and Kansas State are said to be working on the hurry-up approach this spring, too. Oklahoma State is expanding what it already was doing last year, and the concept is obviously nothing new to the Tigers and Jayhawks.

That means at least half the teams in the Big 12 will be in a hurry when they have the ball in 2008.

"I think when you've got great athletes, it's a great offense," CU defensive coordinator Ron Collins said. "I think as we keep going, it's going to be a pretty powerful thing.

"It just really puts a stretch on the defense. I mean, the challenge is on. It's kind of an offensive explosion going on right now and you've got to be able to keep up with it. The great thing for us is we're practicing against it every day."

With NCAA officials and television executives seem-ingly devising new ways each year to shorten the game and draw down the average number of plays, coaches are counter-punching with a system that should increase the number of scoring chances.

The NCAA will likely approve rules changes for 2008 that include a 40-second play clock that starts at the end of the preceding play as well as changing the clock rules when a player runs out of bounds.

Under those situations, the clock will stop only long enough for the officials to mark the ball ready for play, and then it will start again. If a ball carrier goes out of bounds inside two minutes remaining in either half, the clock will stop until the ensuing snap, as it has in the past.

"We're not really doing too much different from a scheme standpoint," CU offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. "We're just trying to do it faster."

In the first two years under Hawkins, Helfrich and passing game coordinator Eric Kiesau, CU fans have grown accustomed to multiple players running on and off the field between plays.

CU coaches have been all about using different players to run specific plays. The new approach will require players to remain on the field regardless of the play call for the most part.

The no-huddle, hurry-up approach keeps a defense on its heels because it forces defenders and their coaches to commit to a particular defense quickly. The offensive coordinator and quarterback are then able to see what the defense is doing and take advantage by quickly changing the play or running what is called.

Helfrich said the offense takes a lot of pressure off his quarterbacks and even allows him to read the defense and make a quick change from the booth before the snap.

"I told these guys the other day. 'I'm sitting in a climate controlled booth, and it's a lot easier for me to sit there and help you out rather than trying to trigger that stuff,'" Helfrich said. "But we're going to put it in the guys' hands a lot, too. 'Cause we trust them. That's all give-and-take by game plan and certainly by quarterback."

Eventually defenses will refine their abilities to defend the offense more consistently and effectively and offensive coaches will have to come up with another new wrinkle. Collins said right now most defensive coordinators are doing their best to match up. Defending this spread-out and sped-up attack can be a nightmare.

"With the way the play clock is going right now, they've got a great chance to look our defense over and they can basically dictate what they want to run by what we're in," Collins said.