Three questions heading into Colorado's matchup with UCLA

The Colorado Buffaloes have lost four consecutive games and the UCLA Bruins have won back-to-back contests. Now, both teams enter a primetime matchup with 3-5 records.

Here’s what we’re wondering about Saturday night’s game:

Can Colorado stop Joshua Kelly?

The answer to this one is probably no.

UCLA’s running game is one of the best in the Pac-12 and the Bruins’ redshirt senior running back is its engine.

Joshua Kelly played his first two collegiate seasons at FCS UC Davis before transferring to UCLA. He redshirted his first year with the Bruins but in his first active season Kelly earned All-Pac-12 honors.

This year, as a senior, the 5-foot-11, 220-pound bowling ball has picked up right where he left off.

Last week, against Arizona State, Kelly put up 164 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries. The week before, against Stanford, he ran the ball 18 times for 176 yards and a touchdown.

Kelly isn’t a dynamic, versatile back — he’s only caught eight passes this season — but he’s the best in the league at what he does. He runs low, bounces off of tacklers and wears a defense down.

A young but steadily improving offensive line is making his job easier every week. Up until last week against the Sun Devils, UCLA has run for the same amount of yards or more than it did in the previous game every single week.

Colorado will need to tackle better than it has in previous weeks if it wants to shut down Joshua Kelly. Look out for a big game from linebacker Nate Landman.

Will the Buffs let UCLA dictate the pace?

Colorado hung with USC for all of last week’s contest, despite playing the Trojans’ style of football.

The drives were short. The passing game was emphasized. The offense ran up-tempo. That’s exactly what you’d expect from an Air Raid-inspired USC offense.

But Colorado did all the same things. That isn’t necessarily a misuse of the Buffs’ talent but it showed a willingness to let the Trojans dictate the pace of play. Both teams passed the ball about 60 percent of the game.

The question now is whether Colorado will let a UCLA team with a very different style do the same thing. Over the past four weeks, the Bruins have thrown the ball about 30 percent of the time.

The Bruins will want to rely on their run game and defensive front to set the tone. The Buffs’ run game has also steadily improved throughout the season and Mel Tucker’s staff may be willing to counter UCLA’s run-heavy style with the exact same thing.

Or, Colorado could take things its own direction. The Buffs could come out passing, try to put up a couple of quick touchdowns and force UCLA to play catch-up and ditch the run. That means putting the ball in sophomore dual-threat quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s hands even more.

The risk is that run-heavy teams prey on opponents’ short drives. The Bruins could run down the clock and wear down the Buffs’ defense.

How Mel Tucker approaches this football game will speak volumes about his philoshiphies as a coach.

Can Colorado score in the red zone?

The Buffs haven’t been able to finish drives.

Colorado has gone to the red zone 31 times this season but has only come away with 16 touchdowns. Only Arizona State and Stanford have lower red zone touchdown percentages in the Pac-12.

The red zone efficiency picked up against USC, with Colorado scoring three touchdowns on four attempts, but that was the first time the Buffs had put up a touchdown on more than half of its red zone attempts in a game since the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

UCLA, on the other hand, is finishing drives off as well as anyone. The Bruins are second in the conference in red zone touchdown percentage, scoring 24 in 33 attempts, and their numbers are picking up: UCLA has scored touchdowns on nine consecutive trips to the red zone.

The red zone battle could decide who wins Saturday’s game.

The Colorado Buffaloes play the UCLA Bruins in the Rose Bowl at 7 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.