There seems to be a simple formula for Colorado to win games—protect your quarterback and establish the run—easier said than done. But this past Saturday Colorado did both in a Big-12 conference win over the Arizona Wildcats and now have a 5-2 record overall, a 3-1 record in conference and five opportunities to become bowl eligible before the end of the season. In a play that could have caught the Buffaloes by surprise but ended up back-firing the Wildcats’ Senior Place Kicker Tyler Loop tried an onside opening kickoff that failed which gave the Buffaloes a very short field to start with on their first drive which led to a TD and a 7-0 lead less than three minutes later. After holding Arizona to a three-and-out and aided by two pass interference calls against the Wildcats, Colorado would score again at the end of a 9 play, 63 yard drive and Shedeur Sanders TD pass to Drelon Miller to go up 14-0 halfway through the 1st Qtr. Arizona would finally get it going on their next possession, a 10 play 75 yard drive ending in a Noah Fafita TD pass to Chris Hunter to make it a 14-7 game with just a little over a minute left in the 1st Qtr.
The 2nd Qtr started much like the first with a TD by the Buffaloes on the back end of an 11 play 75 yard drive and 16 yard TD pass from Sanders to Will Sheppard to go up 21-7. Both teams would get in their own way the next two possessions. Arizona with a missed field goal and a fumble and Colorado with a fumble of their own as well as an interception. But Arizona couldn’t capitalize and were held to another three-and-out which led to Colorado’s fourth TD of the half, a 7 play 31 yard drive and Sanders six yard run into the end zone to take a 28-7 lead into the break. Arizona’s 2nd half was about as dismal as they have played this season and consisted of 4 punts, an interception, and a fumble. Colorado would add another three points on their first opportunity of the 2nd half to make it a 31-7 game and another one four possessions later to extend the lead to 34-7 where it would stay.
With the Colorado defense accounting for 7 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, and 2 pass disruptions Arizona’s QB, Noah Fafita, was under lots of duress the entire game and after averaging 260 yards per game up to Saturday was held to just 138 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. The Wild Cats would actually fare even worse on the ground, rushing 34 times for 107 yards but never finding the end zone. For the Buffaloes, Shedeur connected on just about 70% of his passes for 250 yards, 2 TD’s, and 2 picks while also rushing seven times for one of the two TD’s Colorado got on the ground with Sophomore RB Isaiah Augustave collecting the other one. The Buffaloes’ Place Kicker Alejandro Mata was a perfect 4-for-4 on PATs and 2-for-2 on field goals for 10 of those 34 points. Colorado heads back home to host Cincinnati this coming Saturday who are actually one spot ahead of them in the current Big-12 Standings.