BOULDER, Colo. — Last November, Utah and Colorado met for an unceremonious end to the regular season.
Both teams entered the game injured — the Utes missing at least 10 players with season-ending injuries, including quarterback Cam Rising, and the Buffaloes missing star quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
With Rising and Bryson Barnes out and Nate Johnson in the transfer portal, the Utes had to turn to Luke Bottari, who threw just 10 passes as Utah ran for 268 yards.
Meanwhile, Colorado gained just 37 yards on the ground, but a 195-yard, one touchdown performance from backup quarterback Ryan Staub made it close before Utah held on for a 23-17 victory to improve to 8-4. Colorado, in its first year under head coach Deion Sanders, fell to 4-8 on the season.
On Saturday in Boulder, the circumstances when the two schools meet are wildly different, except for Utah’s injuries, which continue to mount.
After a one-point, last-second loss to rival BYU, Utah enters Saturday’s matchup having lost five-straight games and don’t have a lot of answers, especially after quarterback Brandon Rose was ruled out for the season. The sophomore quarterback’s mother, Lorilyn, shared in a post on X that Rose suffered a Lisfranc injury just before halftime of the BYU game.
On his ESPN 700 coaches show, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said Rose will be out for six to eight months.
That leaves Isaac Wilson and Luke Bottari as the team’s only quarterbacks without a season-ending injury, though Utah added Santa Ana College transfer Dallen Engemann to the official roster this week in case of emergency — Engemann was a preferred walk-on.
Rose is the latest Ute to be out for the season, joining tight end Brant Kuithe, quarterback Cam Rising, quarterback Sam Huard, receiver Money Parks, cornerback Kenan Johnson, running back Anthony Woods and offensive guard Michael Mokofisi. Running back Jaylon Glover won’t play for the rest of the season as well, as he will redshirt the rest of the season to enter the transfer portal.
Colorado, meanwhile, is on the opposite trajectory. After a rough season last year, Sanders retooled the team once again in the transfer portal, bringing in 40 new transfers, and it’s paid off. The Buffaloes have already vastly improved from last season, becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2016, and aren’t done yet.
At 7-2 (5-1 Big 12), if Colorado wins its next three games, starting against Utah, it will punch its ticket to the Big 12 championship game, with the winner of that contest getting a trip to the College Football Playoff.
Not bad for Year 2 of the Deion Sanders era in Boulder.
What’s been behind the turnaround?
Shedeur Sanders has been healthy all season and has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country, throwing for 2,882 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions on 72.9% accuracy.
“The quarterback has a quick release, he’s a terrific quarterback. He’ll be one of the, most likely, the top players taken in the draft next year,” Whittingham said.
Then add in a cohort of talented pass catchers, led by two-way sensation Travis Hunter, who will be a Heisman finalist and could win the award this year, which would be Colorado’s first since 1994, when running back Rashaan Salaam won it.
Hunter is not only in the top 15 in the nation in receiving yards (856 yards, nine TDs) but also has 20 tackles, two interceptions, seven pass deflections and a forced fumble as a cornerback.
“Arguably have one of the best players in college football, maybe the best in the Hunter kid,” Whittingham said.
But it’s not just Hunter — Sanders has plenty of targets, including LaJohntay Wester, Will Sheppard and Jimmy Horn Jr., all of whom have over 400 receiving yards on the year. A lot of what Colorado does is quick passes to get its best players the ball, with over 60% of Sanders’ passes being behind the line of scrimmage or within 0-9 yards.
“Not just Hunter outside, they got three or four guys they can get the ball to,” Whittingham said. “So that’s a big part of what they do is getting the ball — speed and space is what we call it — getting the ball into the hands of the playmakers in space and letting them do their thing.”
Saturday’s game is really going to come down to how well the Utes can defend the pass — and if Utah can find offensive success itself. Colorado doesn’t put the ball in the hands of its running backs very often — the Buffaloes pass the ball 59% of the time, and that percentage increases when you take out Sanders’ runs, which make up 70 of Colorado’s 260 carries this season.
Colorado just isn’t a running team, with its 78.3 rushing yards per game ranking third-from-last in FBS.
The biggest reason for Colorado’s turnaround? An improved offensive line and a better defense. Last year’s front five was abysmal in protecting Sanders, giving up an astonishing 56 sacks. With a rebuilt offensive line via the transfer portal, Colorado is still near the bottom in sacks allowed (29) but has improved, especially of late.
“Coach Sanders is doing a great job and his staff. They have made a lot of adjustments and improvements over last year. Much better at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, so got our work cut out for us.”
— Kyle Whittingham on the 2024 Buffaloes
Defensively, Colorado is allowing 22.6 points per game, good for No. 52 in the country, which is a monumental achievement over the 34.8 points per game (No. 121) last year. New defensive coordinator Robert Livingston has hit all the right notes, and linebacker Brendan Gant, Hunter, cornerback D.J. McKinney and defensive linemen B.J. Green II and Arden Walker are leading the way.
Colorado’s defensive front has turned into one of the best in the country, dropping opposing quarterbacks 29 times this season — No. 6 nationally and the best in the Big 12.
“Coach Sanders is doing a great job and his staff. They have made a lot of adjustments and improvements over last year. Much better at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, so got our work cut out for us,” Whittingham said.
Unlike last year’s game, when Colorado’s postseason fate was already sealed, the Buffaloes still have everything to play for. For Utah, it’s another chance for the Utes to play spoiler and get closer to bowl eligibility. After losing even more players to season-ending injuries and coming off an emotional loss to BYU, is this the moment the bottom completely drops out for Utah and it finally gets blown out, or will the Utes continue to scrap, and perhaps pull off a Big 12-altering upset?
