Deion Sanders’ Buffs embarrassed in 53-7 loss against Utah

SALT LAKE CITY – Just two weeks ago, Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes pulled off their best win of the season when they upset Iowa State at home — a win that arguably saved their season and kept their hopes of making a bowl game alive.

On Saturday night, whatever hope that the Buffs kept alive was dashed in a hurry as they were blown out by the Utah Utes, 53-7. Sanders had two weeks to prepare his team for the biggest game of the season, and it was clear just 37 seconds into the game that whatever coaching efforts that happened over the bye week were a complete failure.

“This is bad… This is probably the worst beating we’ve ever had,” Sanders said after the game.

Utah’s backup quarterback, Byrd Ficklin, found daylight on the second play from scrimmage, and scampered 63 yards to the end zone. That was the first of four touchdowns of at least 53 yards that Sanders and the Buffs allowed.

In the first half, Colorado had nine drives. They punted on seven of them — one which was blocked and another which was shanked — and took a safety and threw an interception on the other two. The Buffs recorded -18 yards in the first half, while Utah put up nearly 400. It was clear that the black and gold were outmatched, outcoached and outclassed all night long.

Halftime: Utah 43, Colorado 0.

Yards: Utah 398, Colorado -18.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 26, 2025

The scoreboard read 43-0 at halftime. For context, the 2022 CU team that went 1-11 and was the worst Power 5 team in the country never faced a halftime deficit that bad. Their worst was a 42-0 showing in the final game of the season, also against Utah. That team didn’t have a bye week to prepare for that game like Sanders’ did. The interim coach of that team, Mike Sanford, had a solid excuse for it as well.

We had Bo Nix, Caleb Williams and Michael Penix Jr in back-to back to back weeks to prepare…

— Coach Mike Sanford (@Coach_Sanford2) October 26, 2025

Three talented NFL quarterbacks leading up to that game versus a bye week and an injured Iowa State team. Seems like quite a big difference, yet this year’s Buffs still ended up worse off.

Salter had one of the worst games of his career on Saturday. He finished with 37 yards and an interception on 9-for-22 passing. He looked like a deer in headlights when he was in the game and had no idea what the Utah defense was going to throw at him as he was constantly running around in the backfield. He was benched in the fourth quarter for Ryan Staub. The quarterback question will likely be a hot topic this week.

“I felt like I had a great week of practice… Today was blindsiding,” Salter said postgame.

The rest of the offense was more of the same. The offensive line had no idea what to do when Utah looped a linebacker around the outside on a blitz, and that includes Jordan Seaton. The running backs had nowhere to go and the wide receivers weren’t getting enough separation.

Don’t forget about the defense. Utah finished the game with 422 yards, the fifth time that a CU opponent has ran for at least 200 yards. The line was getting pushed around, the linebackers were filling terribly, the secondary couldn’t get off blocks, and Utah’s creative scheme was clearly too much for Buffs’ defensive coordinator Rob Livingston.

Utah took its foot off the gas in the second half, almost like coach Kyle Whittingham felt bad for Sanders and the Buffs. It was a very uneventful 30 minutes in which both teams clearly just wanted to go home.

This was embarrassing, almost worse than any game from that 2022 season. At least that team was supposed to be bad. This Buffs team had high aspirations coming off a 9-4 season and a berth in the Alamo Bowl. There’s a disconnect between the players and the coaching staff, everyone is underperforming, and Sanders’ contract has suddenly turned into one of the worst deals in the country. Sanders will have some hard questions to answer ahead of a home matchup against Arizona next week.

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