In spite of the fact that the Buffaloes were missing their starting QB, Shedeur Sanders—who sustained ankle and arm injuries that knocked him out of their game against the Cougars the week before—as well as their leading receiver Xavier Weaver who was battling the flu, it was still a close game with Utah only prevailing 23-17 even though they led from start to finish. Freshman QB Ryan Staub made his first career start for the Buffaloes and unfortunately on the 10th play of their initial drive fumbled the ball during a sack at the Utah 35 yard line. Eight plays later Utah QB, Luke Bottari, ran it into the end zone for a 7-0 lead with just a little over four minutes left in the first quarter. Colorado would finally get some points up on the board on their third possession on a TD pass by their Junior WR, Jimmy Horn Jr., to Dylan Edwards but not before the Utes’ Cole Becker had already kicked a field goal from 34 yards out. Eight plays later the Buffaloes Alejandro Mata would kick a 47 field goal of his own to go into the break down 10-to-13.
For Colorado, the second half started off with a couple of three-and-outs for them while Utah put up more points on another Luke Bottari TD run to go up 20-10 half-way through the 3rd Qtr. Utah would add three more on another Cole Becker field goal, this one from 31 yards out, before the Buffaloes Ryan Staub connected with two-way player Travis Hunter at the end of a 14 yard TD pass to trail 17-to-23 half-way through the 4th Qtr. But anyone who’s ever watched Kyle Whittingham’s team play know that they have no problem drawing out a drive and killing the clock which is exactly what they did, taking well over seven minutes and twelve plays to go just 44 yards—finally taking a knee and the win while time ran out.
Even though Sheduer Sanders got knocked out of the game the week before and didn’t play in this one at all he still ended up in the Top-20 of all QB’s nationally with regards to passing yards at 3,230 and set a school record. He also ended up in the Top 20 in TD’s with 27 against just 3 interceptions. An amazing statistic considering that he was sacked over 50 times. In this game Colorado’s Ryan Staub would complete 17-of-24 passes for 195 yards and the 1 TD to Travis Hunter. On the ground Sophomore RB’s Sy’veon Wilkerson and Anthony Hankerson would together pick up 48 yards on 12 rushing attempts. But with Dylan Edwards just picking up 1 yard and the QB losing 12, the team ended up gaining just 37 yards on 17 carries—none of which made it into the end zone.
For Utah, QB Luke Bottari in a very structured scheme only attempted ten passes and connected six times for a total of 61 yards. The Utes made their hay on the ground led by Sophomore RB’s Jaylon Glover and Ja’Quindon Jackson along with Safety Sione Vaki who together rushed 45 times for 243 of the team’s 268 total yards with Bottari collecting both rushing TD’s. Utah won the 1st down battle, 21-to-13; led in total yards of offense, 329-to-262, were successful half the time on 3rd down conversions; and made both of their 4th down attempts in addition to having possession of the ball 18 minutes more than Colorado! Like Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game; “When Utah is playing its best, we’re running the football effectively, we’re dominating time-of-play, and we’re not turning the ball over. That’s who we are.” For Colorado it’s back to the drawing board and the transfer portal while the Utes will be playing in their third straight bowl game.