Boulder, Colo. ? He’s part tailback, part fullback and 100 percent football player.

Lawrence Vickers proved that again Saturday, scoring four touchdowns to help No. 25 Colorado move closer to another division title with a 41-12 victory over Missouri.

Vickers normally does more blocking and pass-catching than running, but when the Buffs decided right before kickoff that hurting tailback Hugh Charles couldn’t go, Vickers got the call.

He ran for touchdowns of one, two, 20 and seven yards for the Buffs (7-2 overall, 5-1 Big 12 Conference) and finished with a career-high 85 yards on 18 carries.

“I was motivated,” Vickers said. “I love carrying the ball.”

Vickers’ super game was part of a great all-around performance for the Buffs, one coach Gary Barnett called the most thorough he had seen this season.

Colorado fullback Lawrence Vickers, right, celebrates his fourth touchdown of the game with teammate Byron Ellis. The Buffs roughed up Missouri, 41-12, Saturday in Boulder, Colo.

Joel Klatt threw for 253 yards and a touchdown, Mason Crosby hit a 56-yard field goal, and CU took a two-game lead over Missouri in the Big 12 North.

If the Buffs win next week at Iowa State, also 3-3 in the conference, they’ll secure their fourth trip to the conference title game in the last five years.

MU, meanwhile, came into the game also controlling its destiny. But the Tigers fell flat, lost their second straight and now probably will focus more on getting another victory to become bowl-eligible rather than winning the division.

“Maybe they felt too much pressure. Maybe I did it,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said.

This game, against a contending Missouri team and its dynamic quarterback, Brad Smith, was supposed to a big test. As they have in every home game since their three-point victory in the opener against Colorado State, the Buffs took a big lead early and left little doubt about who was the better team.

The defense was good, too.

Smith, he of the 246-yard rushing game two weeks ago in a victory over Nebraska, got the five yards he needed to break Antwaan Randle-El’s NCAA record for yards rushing by a quarterback (3,895). But overall, he was held in check, throwing for 160 yards and running for 16 more, as the Mizzou offense managed the single touchdown and no other real threats.

Crosby, meanwhile, made his 10th career field goal from 50 yards or longer. Last week, he booted a 50-yarder in the final seconds for a 23-20 victory at Kansas State.

This time, Klatt threw incomplete on third-and-six from the Missouri 39. When Crosby’s kick went over the crossbar, the ball still was above the top of the uprights.