CU Buffs get prime kickoff time against UCLA Bruins, look for upset

Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes are on bye this weekend, sitting and steaming on their meltdown 46-43 loss against the Stanford Cardinal.

Stanford is back home hosting the No. 25 UCLA Bruins, who is hosting the CU Buffs in the Rose Bowl after their bye. The Pac-12 announced that the Oct. 28 contest between the Bruins and Buffs will take place at 5:30 M.T. and will be broadcasted nationally by ABC. The time and TV is especially nice given only two of Colorado’s seven games thus far have taken place at a decent hour—this had led to complaints from fans and the Coach. Unlike five of those other times, there’s no early morning wake-up call or an after midnight plan for this one.

UCLA is 4-2 and just took a 36-24 road loss to the now No. 12 Oregon State Beavers. Colorado was ranked for a time earlier this season but has lost three of their last four games since entering conference play. The Bruins are a somewhat new-look team this year with longtime quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the NFL now, but in their sixth season under Chip Kelly, who finally took the school bowling last year, junior running back Carson Steele has been one of the better rushers in the country.

The Buffaloes should be whole for the contest, regaining Travis Hunter for the Stanford loss after he missed three games. There are some minor injuries the team could heal from in the next week or so, but Coach Prime wasn’t thrilled about the bye week coming after the collapse. Still, Sanders had a message of recommitment to his players after the game.

The Buffs were crushed 45-17 by UCLA in Boulder last season and haven’t beaten the Bruins in the Rose Bowl since joining the Pac-12. This is CU’s last shot at UCLA, with each headed to new conferences next year—the Bruins the Big Ten and the Buffs the Big 12. All-time Colorado is 5-13 against UCLA and 1-8 on the road, the two schools have been matching up since 1980.

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