Colorado gets a little extra time, and a little extra night, to sort out what comes next against Utah.
The Big 12 announced Monday that the Buffaloes’ game with the No. 12 Utes will kick off at 8:15 p.m.
MT, which is 10:15 p.m. EST.
It will be Colorado’s first late-night kickoff of this season, though that stage is hardly new territory for the Buffs. They’ve played in that window multiple times in 2025, including against Utah.
That previous meeting is one Colorado would rather leave in the rearview. It came in a very familiar setup: a ranked conference opponent on the schedule, a bye week in the rear, and Utah waiting on the other side.
The break didn’t help enough then. Colorado got hammered 53-7 in Salt Lake City, and the game never really tilted back in its direction.
Utah controlled both sides of the ball, and the loss helped send Colorado’s season into a spiral.
Still, late starts haven’t always been bad news for this team. Last year, Colorado’s home game against then-No.
25 BYU turned into one of those nights that made people lean in. The Buffaloes pushed Kalani Sitake’s team hard, and BYU later reached the Big 12 Championship.
Colorado came up three points short, which only added to the sense that there might be more there than the final record showed.
This year’s version of the matchup has a different feel. Utah still brings back plenty of the same faces from that 2025 blowout, but Colorado is a different team in a few important ways.
The biggest one is on defense. That group is far better positioned now to keep Utah from running roughshod over the Buffs the way it did a year ago.
Colorado’s defense nearly carried the day against then-No. 12 Texas Tech in Week 5, holding the Red Raiders to 15 points until the final three minutes.
Outside of the Week 3 loss to Northwestern, that unit has been the steady part of the operation.
The offense is where the questions keep piling up.
Colorado has managed to spin its wheels in four of five games this season, and the problems start with quarterback play. Redshirt freshman Julian Lewis has looked too hesitant, while junior Isaac Wilson has given the ball away too often. The final new name in the mix is true freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne, a dual-threat quarterback from Lehi, Utah.
That is a lot to ask of a freshman against a Utah defense of this caliber, and it is hard to see that setting up cleanly for Colorado.
Then there’s offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who has yet to put together strong outings against Power Four competition this season. Colorado enters this matchup with the lowest-scoring offense in the Big 12 and the third-lowest-scoring offense among Power Four teams.
And now his playbook is public information.
So the bye week, the late kickoff and the opponent all point to the same thing: this game will reveal plenty about how Colorado used its time off, and what kind of season it still has left.
In Other News...
Deion Sanders Just Put Colorados Biggest Early Problem In Focus
Colorados early-season slide has turned what once looked like a promising start into a much harsher reality. The Buffaloes are sitting at 2-3 with a three-game losing streak, and the reasons are piling up fast: injuries, uneven execution and a quarterback situation that has not settled the way the staff needs it to. Even so, the defense has held up better than most of the rest of the roster, which only sharpens the contrast with an offense that has struggled to find any rhythm.
Deion Sanders has already put his finger on the bigger issue, and it goes beyond one bad half or one tough matchup. He has pointed to preparation, quarterback play and discipline, with Colorado leading the Big 12 in penalties and sitting at the bottom of the league in scoring and red-zone conversion. Those are the kinds of numbers that dont just explain a losing streak, they define the challenge in front of a team still trying to figure out who it wants to be. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Fans Can Feel The Pressure Building Around Isaac Wilson
Colorados latest loss, a 29-7 setback to No. 12 Texas Tech, left the Buffaloes searching for answers as the losing streak kept growing and the offense again stalled at a frustrating pace. Isaac Wilson tried to shoulder the blame afterward, and the freshman quarterbacks day summed up the problem in one snapshot: 290 passing yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in a game where the scoreboard never really reflected enough consistent momentum.
Deion Sanders pointed to one position group as the biggest issue holding the team back, though he stopped short of naming it publicly, while also giving the defense credit for keeping the game from getting even further out of hand. For Colorado, the concern now is less about a single bad afternoon than the pressure building around Wilson and an offense that has yet to find a steady rhythm while the losses continue to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Joseph Williams Is Giving Colorado Something It Desperately Needs
Joseph Williams has become one of the most encouraging parts of Colorados offense over the past month, giving the Buffaloes a reliable target just as the unit has continued to search for stability. Over the last four weeks, he has piled up 30 catches for 431 yards and five touchdowns, production that has helped keep the passing game moving even as the team has worked through a quarterback change with Isaac Wilson now in the starting role.
His latest outing against Texas Tech was another reminder of how important he has become, with 10 receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown in a loss. For Colorado, Williams emergence is more than just a hot streak - it is a sign that the offense may have found a dependable playmaker at a time when it badly needs one. [Read more 🡒]