All eyes were on Matt Nichols.

But no one at Folsom Field had a better view of the Eastern Washington quarterback's eyes than Cha'pelle Brown, who returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown with 1:44 remaining to will Colorado to a 31-24 victory on Saturday in front of 46,417.

CU defensive coordinator Ron Collins, who had the secondary in zone coverage during crunch time, said Brown made the exact same play against the scout team in practice last week.

"That's what we're supposed to do. It's a nice play and I'm glad I made the play," Brown said. "It feels good. That's my job is to read the quarterback's eyes, so I just read them and went for it."

The Buffs (2-0) -- who were understandably getting tired of the Montana State flashbacks leading up to this matchup with a determined Big Sky opponent -- were reading more than the quarterback's eyes leading up to the game.

Posted and highlighted on the bulletin board outside the locker room in the Dal Ward Center was this quote from Nichols that appeared in ESPN The Magazine: "We're going guns-a-blazin', pulling every trick out of the bag. We can do things against any defense in the country."

Early on, Nichols was backing up the big talk. He completed 17-of-24 for 179 yards and a touchdown in the first half as the Eagles enjoyed a 21-7 lead entering the intermission.

EWU converted seven of 10 third downs before the intermission to keep CU's offense on the sideline and the crowd out of the game.

"This game is not very crazy," Buffs defensive tackle George Hypolite said. "Teams who run the spread, if you can tackle it you can stop it. But if you allow them to break tackles and get extra yards it's going to hurt you a little bit. And that's really what happened in the first half."

Nichols connected with Brynsen Brown for a 43-yard touchdown on a third-and-3 play in the first quarter.

After beating Jalil Brown for the catch, the 6-1, 210-pound receiver plodded his way into the end zone with the cornerback riding on his back to make the score 7-0.

After Josh Smith fumbled a punt return at his own 27, Nichols completed a 16-yard pass to Aaron Boyce on third-and-8 to set up a 1-yard touchdown run for Toke Kefu to make the score 14-7 with 10:23 remaining in the second quarter.

"It was a case of just some guys settling down a little bit," CU head coach Dan Hawkins said of his defense's adjustments for the second half. "They hit us three times on third downs with a similar kind of route combination and we had to change up our technique based on what we were doing."

Shaun Mohler was having a brilliant game at weakside linebacker for the Buffs until suffering what CU officials called a shoulder bruise with 3:24 remaining in the third quarter.

Enter walk-on Bryan Stengel, who added to Mohler's nine tackles with two more in the fourth quarter.

"Being a backup is kind of tough, but you always have to have your head in the game and keep learning," Stengel said. "You never know what could happen. I feel really bad for Shaun, that's a tough break. I got the opportunity to play, but we're going to miss Shaun."

Jeff Smart, a former walk-on from Boulder High School, added seven tackles and a fumble recovery to help the defense rally.

"It's very gratifying because those guys have worked their way from the bottom all the way up," Collins said. "They're doing a great job for us."

When J.C. Sherritt returned an ill-advised Cody Hawkins pass 48 yards for a touchdown the Eagles seemed poised to make SportsCenter with a 21-7 cushion.

Some of the seniors, including safety Ryan Walters and Hypolite, were not happy about getting booed leaving the field at halftime and made speeches to encourage the younger players to rise up to the challenge.

They were determined to make sure Saturday's outcome was different than the infamous 19-10 loss to Montana State in the 2006 home opener.

"I got a little excited (at halftime)," Hypolite said. "I'm a guy who has been around a while and I've seen some things. I just wanted the guys to know how I felt and the passion I have for this program and for our team. I just wanted everybody to come out in the second half and not play tight."

If Hypolite was the bad cop, Walters was the good cop.

"I told everybody just don't worry, don't get too caught up in the moment, don't panic," Walters said. "You definitely have to have a sense of urgency, but we were OK. Everything they got was because of what we did wrong on defense and what we miscued on offense. I told everybody to just calm down and relax. Just go out in the second half and play football like we know how to play."

CU only allowed three points in the second half and sealed the victory when safety D.J. Dykes intercepted Nichols in the end zone in the final seconds.