No. 17 Colorado didn’t have much trouble with Utah on Saturday.
The Buffaloes are one step closer to a spot in the Big 12 title game and a potential College Football Playoff berth after a 49-24 home win over the Utes.
The game started poorly. Shedeur Sanders was intercepted on the first pass of the game. But Utah’s moribund offense could only get a field goal and Colorado took over from there.
After leading by 12 at halftime, Colorado put the game away in the third quarter. Nikhai Hill-Green intercepted Isaac Wilson on the first possession of the half and returned the ball to the Utes’ 37-yard-line. One play later, Isaiah Augustave provided a rare big play in the run game for the Buffs with a 37-yard TD run to make it a three-possession game.
That play was the longest TD run by a Colorado player since 2018 and one of many big plays Colorado hit on Saturday.
The Buffaloes scored four touchdowns over 35 yards. Colorado’s first TD came on a 40-yard TD to Will Sheppard and LaJohntay Wester added another just over two minutes later on a 76-yard punt return. In the fourth quarter, Sanders hit Drelon Miller for a 47-yard TD.
Travis Hunter adds to his Heisman case
The star Colorado defensive back and wide receiver entered the weekend as the betting favorite for the Heisman Trophy. And it’s going to take a big weekend from someone else to usurp him.
Hunter got his third interception of the season in the second quarter when he caught a deflected pass and returned it 21 yards.
The Buffs’ offense couldn’t do anything with the ball after the pick, but Hunter later set up an offensive TD with a fantastic 28-yard grab on fourth down as a wide receiver late in the second quarter.
Hunter then capped the game off with a TD run on an end-around after he changed directions and cut back to the middle of the field. If and when he wins the Heisman in approximately a month, you’re going to see a lot of highlights of this play, even if it came when the game was out of reach.
Colorado needs two more wins
The path to the Big 12 championship game is straightforward for Colorado: The Buffs just need to keep winning. Colorado has a road game at Kansas and a home game against Oklahoma State over the final two weeks of the regular season. Victories in each of those games will guarantee the Buffaloes a spot in Arlington on Dec. 7.
Utah, meanwhile, is simply hoping to make a bowl game after opening the season as the favorites to win the Big 12. The Utes (4-6) have been decimated by injuries as QB Cameron Rising, TE Brant Kuithe and WR Money Parks, among others, are out for the season. Wilson is just one of two healthy quarterbacks after Brandon Rose suffered a season-ending foot injury in the team’s loss to BYU in Week 11.
Utah hosts Iowa State in Week 13 before a road trip to UCF on Black Friday to close out the season. The Utes need to win both of those games to get to a bowl.
