TEMPE, Ariz. -- As well as No. 2 Oregon played all season, its defense constantly felt the need to prove itself.

	The Ducks were riding high in beating Colorado 38-16.

Those doubts were strongest just before meeting No. 3 Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl, and they vanished as soon as the Ducks stuffed one of the Buffaloes' heralded tailbacks. After that, their confidence grew with each successive stop.

Colorado racked up 603 yards rushing in victories over Nebraska and Texas, but Oregon's front nine held the Buffs to just 49 yards on the ground in a dominant 38-16 victory Tuesday.

"Once we got them in the air, we knew that the game was over with," cornerback Rashad Bauman said. "Once we went out there and made our defensive adjustments, they didn't have a chance after that."

Oregon, which reached 11 victories for the first time in school history and won an unprecedented third straight bowl game, began the season facing questions about how it would replace seven starters on defense, including all three linebackers.

The unit was consistently regarded as quick but too small, and the skeptics were right much of the time. Overall, the Ducks ranked 81st nationally in total defense entering Tuesday's game, and the secondary -- prone to big plays and penalties -- was 110th.

"People always question us," linebacker Kevin Mitchell said. "But when they call on us to make plays, we make them."

Practically all the Ducks' defenders heard about the last week was Colorado being the hottest team in the country, and whether they could even slow down tailbacks Chris Brown, Bobby Purify and Cortlen Johnson.

Oregon stayed with the strategy they used all season: committing all four linemen, the three linebackers and two safeties to stopping the run, and leaving cornerbacks Bauman and Steve Smith alone to handle CU's receivers.

Coach Mike Bellotti acknowledged this week that the game plan was "absolutely risky," but he had to do it to have a chance.

It worked better than the Ducks could have imagined, as Brown was held to 30 yards, Johnson 24 and Purify 19. In the two big wins over Nebraska and Texas, the Buffs averaged 5.7 yards per carry; the Ducks held them to 1.6.

"That goes to the mindset of a team that's going to run the ball," linebacker Wesly Mallard said. "They want to pound you, and when you stop them from running the ball like that, I think it breaks them. I think it breaks their will a little bit."

Unable to move the ball, Colorado quarterback Bobby Pesavento was forced to throw it downfield, and he was out of his element: He was twice intercepted by Smith, and when backup Craig Ochs entered the game in the fourth quarter, his first pass was picked off by Smith at the Oregon 25.

Another danger for Oregon's defense was that Colorado would run so well behind its massive line, and use up so much of the clock, that quarterback Joey Harrington wouldn't be a factor.

Harrington wasn't on the field much, all right, but only because the Ducks struck quickly every time. The longest of their five touchdown drives took only 2 minutes, 38 seconds.

Colorado took a 7-0 lead on fullback Brandon Drumm's 1-yard run, capping a drive that ate up 5:11. Its next possession began with Purify gaining just one yard. After an incomplete pass, Johnson was stuffed by tackle Igor Olshansky for a 2-yard loss. The Buffs' next drive ended when Brown was met at the line of scrimmage, again by Olshansky, for a 1-yard loss on third-and-1.

"Once we saw that they couldn't move the ball like they moved it against Nebraska, I think that definitely gave us a sense of confidence, that this game was in our control," Bauman said.

The next time Colorado had the ball, it trailed 14-7. On first-and-15 following a penalty, Johnson bolted through a hole for 14 yards, but the Buffs couldn't pick up a first down. On second-and-inches, a pass was called, with Colorado apparently certain it could pick up the first down easily if the play didn't work.

Instead, Pesavento's pass was too high, and on third-and-short, Johnson was stopped short of the marker by Olshansky and Mallard.