Takeaways From Buffs' Narrow Loss To USC

Anthony Hankerson led CU in rushing Saturday.BOULDER — There is an argument to be made that the Colorado Buffaloes may have played their best game of the year so far in Saturday's 48-41 loss to No. 8 USC.

But while Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders and his staff would likely resist such an assessment, one thing much harder to dispute is this:

CU's second-half performance was clearly the best 30 minutes of football the Buffs have put together this year.

Offensively, Colorado dominated a top 10 team for the final two quarters. Coordinator Sean Lewis' offense outscored USC 27-14 in that stretch while also nearly doubling the Trojans' yardage (318-165). The Buffs ran 44 offensive plays in the second…