Colorado had a chance to flip the script Saturday night. Instead, the Buffaloes followed a familiar script for one half, wrote their own comeback in the third quarter, and still walked off Folsom Field with a 27-24 loss to No. 11 Utah in front of 52,489.
For Colorado, the sting wasn’t just the final score. It was the way the night opened.
The Buffs fell behind 13-0 at halftime, only to surge ahead after the break before Utah answered late and closed the door. The loss dropped Colorado to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 play, while Utah moved to 6-0 and 3-0.
Utah set the tone immediately. The Utes opened with a 75-yard march in 12 plays, finished by Devon Dampier’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Andrews. Their next scoring drive was even more methodical: 84 yards, 17 plays, 8:35 off the clock, and a 27-yard field goal from Dillon Curtis.
Colorado did get some life before halftime, but not enough to crack the scoreboard. Defensive lineman Dylan Manuel intercepted Dampier at the Colorado 6 on a goal-line stand, then Rabbit Evans picked off Isaac Wilson at the Utah 42 moments later. Curtis then hit a 29-yard field goal as the half expired.
“Starting out with zero points in the first half is not how we want to start,” Wilson said. “We need to play for all 60 minutes.”
Whatever was said at halftime mattered. Wilson said the team held a meeting, and Colorado came out with a different edge.
Three plays into the third quarter, on third-and-3, Wilson hit JaQuail Smith, who turned a short catch into a 68-yard touchdown. Smith laughed afterward: “He snapped it.
I went,” Smith said. “I turned around and I’m like, oh, he’s still up.”
The Buffaloes kept rolling from there. On the next two possessions, DeKalon Taylor punched in an 18-yard touchdown run to put Colorado in front 14-13, and after Naeten Mitchell intercepted Dampier, Elliott Arnold knocked through a 32-yard field goal for a 17-13 lead.
Utah didn’t blink for long. On third-and-10, Dampier connected with Creed Whittemore for 43 yards, setting up Braden Pagen’s 16-yard touchdown catch with 1:06 left in the third quarter.
Then came the swing that changed everything. With 5:09 remaining, James Chenault Jr. picked off Wilson and returned it 30 yards to the Colorado 22. Three plays later, Pagen found the end zone again, and Utah had a 27-17 cushion.
“I had a bad, bad turnover in that second half,” Wilson said. “Really caused a downfall.”
Colorado still had one more push in it. The Buffs drove 83 yards in eight plays, with Wilson finding DeAndre Moore Jr. for 48 yards before connecting with him again on a 2-yard touchdown with 1:21 left. Utah recovered the ensuing onside kick, but Colorado’s defense forced a three-and-out and gave the offense one last shot at its own 9 with 56 seconds remaining.
The final possession never quite got fully off the ground. Wilson scrambled and pitched to Quanell Farrakhan Jr., but the play was ruled an illegal forward pass. His final throw, aimed toward Joseph Williams, fell incomplete as time ran out.
Afterward, Deion Sanders said he did something he rarely does after a loss.
“I stood up there on the podium and told those kids, I’m really proud of y’all, man, because they fought, they didn’t give up,” he said.
Sanders pointed to possession time as a major issue. Utah held the ball for 37:00, while Colorado had it for 23:00.
The Buffaloes were also penalized 10 times for 93 yards, and Sanders called the first half “atrocious.” He said the team adjusted its routine coming out of the locker room before the game and at halftime to keep players moving.
“When we don’t beat ourselves, we’re a pretty darn good ball team,” Sanders said.
Smith finished with 73 rushing yards on 13 carries, while Wilson added 41 yards on the ground. Moore led Colorado’s receivers with five catches for 70 yards. The 24 points were the most Colorado has scored against an FBS opponent this season.
The defense had its own bright spots even in defeat. Colorado held Utah to 131 rushing yards at 3.4 per carry and finished with nine tackles for loss, three sacks and two takeaways.
Gideon Lampron led the way with 11 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Randon Fontenette also had 11 tackles, and Liona Lefau added 10 tackles and a sack.
Lampron said the team knows the outside noise.
“No one believed in us,” Lampron said. “Everyone thought, you know, we’re going to get walked over.”
Wilson, who started at Utah in 2024, took the loss personally.
“I wanted this one bad. I wanted this one really bad,” Wilson said.
“I was there. Another man’s trash.
Another man’s treasure.”
Sanders said the week ahead won’t be built around self-pity. Colorado plays at Oklahoma State next Saturday, Oct. 24.
“I really hate that the record tells a different story than who they really are,” Sanders said.
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