Colorado has spent September talking about championship standards. On Saturday, the Buffaloes get a chance to back it up in their own building.
No. 12 Texas Tech comes to Folsom Field carrying a 4-0 record, a 1-0 mark in Big 12 play and the confidence of a team that won the conference title last season.
Colorado is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in league play, and after three road games in its first four, this is finally the home stretch in more than one sense. The Buffs last played at Folsom against Weber State, and even after that 31-point win, Deion Sanders made clear the goal was bigger than a single result.
Linebacker Tyler Martinez said it plainly after that game.
“Our goal as a team is to win the Big 12 and go to the College Football Playoff and win a national championship,” Martinez said after that game.
That’s the backdrop for Saturday, and the math is unforgiving. A loss would push Colorado to 0-2 in Big 12 play with seven conference games still to go, and the Buffs would need to navigate the rest of the league slate almost perfectly.
Last season, 7-2 wasn’t enough. Utah finished third at that mark, while Texas Tech and BYU both went 8-1 and met for the championship.
So this isn’t just another home game. It’s a measuring stick.
“It’s another home game, so we’ve got to protect the house first and foremost,” receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. said.
Colorado is not pretending otherwise. Receiver Joseph Williams said the Buffs believe they can line up with anyone.
“We feel like we can play with anybody,” Williams said. “So regardless (of) what jersey you’ve got on, regardless (of) who’s out there, we feel like we can play with whoever.”
The challenge is obvious, and the odds reflect it. Colorado opened as a 14.5-point underdog before the line moved to 12.5 against an unbeaten Texas Tech team. The Red Raiders are also bringing the kind of résumé that forces attention: they beat BYU for the conference crown last season and made the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history.
The Buffaloes, though, have no interest in treating this like a feel-good return home. Defensive end Toby Anene said the two losses that have hurt Colorado this season have lingered in the locker room because both felt there for the taking.
“Just trying to correct our wrongs,” Anene said.
Defensive line coach Dante Carter wasn’t interested in the comfort of being back home after a month mostly spent away.
“We try and win. Period,” he said.
“We’ve got to win. We’ve got to win.
Ain’t nothing else to say about it.”
Injuries make the task harder. Receiver Danny Scudero is still out, and Sanders said Tuesday the bye should give him more time to recover.
Moore is listed as questionable after needing help off the field at Baylor. Martinez and offensive lineman Demetrius Hunter have each posted on Instagram that they had surgery.
Quarterback remains a question, at least publicly. Sanders had not named a starter by Tuesday, though multiple outlets have since reported that Isaac Wilson will get the nod.
Across the field, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire is pushing a similar message about carrying practice into the game.
His team has been better after halftime than before it, outscoring opponents 79-33 in second halves and 66-41 in the first halves. Last week, Sam Houston stayed within seven at the break before the Red Raiders pulled away. McGuire wants the fast start this time.
“Let’s respond as soon as we get off the bus on Saturday,” he said.
There’s also a bit of history here. Texas Tech hasn’t played in Boulder since 2010, when it rallied from 24-14 down in the fourth quarter to win 27-24, its only victory in five trips to Folsom Field.
One current Red Raider, Cash Cleveland, knows Colorado well; he walked on there in 2024, started at center for the Buffaloes’ final four games, then transferred to Tech. He is listed as probable, and when asked whether Saturday carries a chip-on-the-shoulder feel, he answered, “It is in a way, but at the end of the day, it’s all about us.”
Colorado can say the same thing. Williams called the upcoming stretch an “opportunity for us to turn the season around.”
At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the Buffaloes get their shot to prove the talk meant something.
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