CU Buffs take advantage of CSU Rams mistakes in CU win

FORT COLLINS—A Canvas Stadium record crowd of 40,099 watched the Colorado State Rams shoot themselves in the foot on Saturday, giving their big brother rivals, the Colorado Buffaloes, a 28-9 win.

Two critical penalties and two interceptions directly led to the Buffaloes four touchdowns as they rolled by the Rams.

The Buffs were scoreless headed into their fourth drive at the start of the second quarter and trailing by a field goal. An earlier CU field goal that would’ve evened the count sailed right. So having gone less than 50 yards to that point and with two three-and-outs, Shedeur Sanders got rolling from his own 15 yard line. A quick one to Travis Hunter then a toss up the middle to LaJohntay Wester pushed the Buffs from their own goalposts. But things started to stall at midfield when Sanders hit Hunter for a loss of yards. Sanders then tried to play hero rolling out right throwing a miss which would’ve led to third and 13, but Andrew Laurich roughed the passer giving the Buffs the yards and a fresh set of downs. With the help of a Micah Welch 26-yard run, and a 12-yard catch by Hunter, the Buffs found the end zone on a Wester catch six plays after the penalty, for the first touchdown of the game.

A drive just over two minutes later was almost identical, starting at the 16—Colorado was quickly back to a third and 13 but Sanders connected with Hunter for 19 yards. Then it was Hunter again for nine, who pushed Colorado to near midfield. But the second and short quickly turned into second and 21 after back-to-back holding calls on the Colorado offensive line under the two minute timeout looked to have taken away the Buffaloes chance to score. Welch tacked a long 16-yard run to give Colorado a chance but at the end of the play a face mask on James Mitchell pushed the Buffaloes into Rams territory with a fresh set of downs. Four plays later it was Sanders to Wester for 34 yards and six points. Wester’s two touchdown quarters tied the school mark for most by a pass-catcher, but more importantly gave Colorado a 14-3 lead at halftime.

The Buffaloes went three-and-out to start the second half but they pinned CSU deep, starting at their own four-yard line. With the rush coming, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi threw a lollipop into the center of Colorado’s defense where Preston Hodge snagged it and handed Sanders the ball at the 12-yard line. Two plays later it was the quarterback to his best friend Hunter for the Buffs commanding third touchdown in about 15 minutes of game time all off of Rams miscues.

In the theme of the game, CSU finally got the ball moving on their drive after the interception—going 82 yards over 16 plays—but they fumbled on the Buffs five-yard line. CU fumbled it back a few moments later but a CSU false start on first down halted that chance before it could really begin. Thus two CSU mistakes in plus territory took away what should’ve been some scoring and made it a fumble near the end zone and a fourth-down interception by Hunter. Hunter was the one to capitalize on these CSU mistakes, not just with the pick but a 21-yard touchdown catch a few minutes later that pushed CU’s lead to 28-3. Hunter’s last catch, No. 12 for No. 12 gave him the Buffs record for most in the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

Colorado State tacked on some garbage time scoring to make it a bit closer in the end. For all the Rams mistakes, turnovers and penalties—the Buffs had over a dozen and a turnover too, but CU finally did a better job of protecting Sanders and that was key in the victory.

Colorado hosts Baylor for homecoming and the Buffaloes return to the Big 12 next Saturday. The Bears also moved to 2-1 on Saturday by beating a Mountain West school from Colorado—easily topping Air Force. The Rams host UTEP next Saturday.

The Buffaloes have won seven Rocky Mountain Showdowns in a row, with the next one not coming again until 2029. Colorado increased their lead in the all-time series to 69-22-2.