SALT LAKE CITY — Shedeur Sanders didn’t play. And, true to his mantra, Deion Sanders’ Buffs didn’t quit. CU, a three-touchdown underdog, fell 23-17 at Utah on Saturday despite a heroic game by two-way Buffs star Travis Hunter (107 receiving yards, one score) and nearly 200 passing yards by backup quarterback Ryan Staub, who made his first collegiate start in Sanders’ place.
The Buffs finished the elder Sanders’ first season at 4-8, 1-8 in Pac-12 play, and riding a six-game losing streak. The final Rumble In the Rockies in the Pac-12 — both CU and Utah are moving to the Big 12 next summer — had more of an NFL preseason feel at the start, as both rivals started backup quarterbacks. With Shedeur Sanders battling a spate of injuries, Coach Prime started freshman Ryan Staub behind center.
Utah opened with senior Luke Bottari, a JUCO transfer. Both were making their first FBS starts at the FBS level. Staub’s first drive opened conservatively and with promise — two Sy’veon Wilkerson runs and a 9-yard completion for a first down — but ended at the Utah 35 when the Buffs freshman signal-caller fumbled away the rock on a 7-yard sack-fumble 5:47 into the tilt.
The hosts capitalized on the short field, and Bottari’s 1-yard TD run capped an eight-play, 58-yard drive that gave Utah a 6-0 lead before the extra point. The Utes extended that lead to double digits on ex-Buff kicker Cole Becker’s 34-yard field goal with 11:17 left until halftime. With CU trailing 10-0, Buffs wideout Jimmy Horn Jr.
went to work. Horn’s 41-yard kick return gave the Buffs great field position on their first possession of the second quarter. The transfer caught a 10-yard pass from Staub on first-and-10 at the Utah 40 to extend the drive.
Horn then capped it with, of all things, a throw. The senior split wide to the left and took a lateral pass from Staub, finding tailback Dylan Edwards wide open in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown toss that finally got CU on the board. And the underdogs kept swinging.
A season of incomplete and up-and-down performances saw another peak, as the inspired Buffs put together one of their best, and most complementary, quarters of football all season in the 15 minutes leading up to halftime. Utah looked to extend its 10-7 cushion with a drive that shot all the way to the CU 5 midway through the second stanza. But the Buffs’ D allowed only one net yard over the next three plays, forcing a 22-yard Becker field goal and a 13-7 Utes lead.
When CU got the ball back, Staub and Hunter — mostly Hunter — went to work. With only 92 seconds on the clock the Buffs drove to the Utah 29 on seven plays. On third-and-7, Staub fired a rainbow up the right boundary into the end zone, where a diving Hunter appeared to secure the ball with both hands as he fell to the turf.
A viral touchdown catch was overturned on the replay review, though, and CU kicked from the 29. Alejandro Mata’s 47-yard make was a new personal best in terms of distance with the Buffs, pulling CU to within 13-10 at the half. The replay review was the second potential Hunter score of that drive taken off the board, as officials ruled the two-way star had stepped out of bounds on a short pass at midfield.
Hunter still accounted for 43 of the Buffs’ 52 yards that drive. .
From: denverpost
URL: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/11/25/deion-sanders-cu-buffs-fall-utah-utes/