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Shedeur Sanders scores a touchdown on this run in the first quarter of the Colorado Baylor football game on Sept. 21, 2024.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Shedeur Sanders scores a touchdown on this run in the first quarter of the Colorado Baylor football game on Sept. 21, 2024.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Pat Rooney - CU Sports / Buffzone Sports Writer
PUBLISHED:

This one had it all.

There was the quarterback who shook off a second half beating to deliver a dime at the buzzer.

There was the two-way star who capped yet another 100-yard receiving game with a game-clinching defensive play.

And, just to take the drama to another level, there was a premature field-storming that made it easy to wonder how exactly the game would continue if the final play was reversed while fans kept streaming over the walls to join a victory celebration already underway.

Amid all the chaos, though, the result was easy to break down. The Colorado Buffaloes had Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. Baylor did not.

In a wild finish to end all wild finishes, the Colorado made a victorious return to the Big 12 Conference on Saturday night, surviving one elimination play after another to post a 38-31 overtime victory against Baylor at Folsom Field.

Make no mistake, this was a game the Buffs had no business winning. Thanks to Sanders and Hunter, they did.

Now a third of the way through the season, all of the “way too early” projections for possible Heisman Trophy candidates can instead turn into a genuine campaign for Hunter. There isn’t a single player in the country who could turn in the sort of performance Hunter gave the Buffs against Baylor, as his fourth 100-yard receiving effort in as many games this season took a back seat to his most important play of the game on the other side of the ball, as he forced a fumble from Baylor running back Dominic Richardson.

With one big hit, Hunter turned a Bears touchdown that would’ve forced another overtime session into a win-clinching fumble.

Sanders was no less superhuman. As is custom, CU’s quarterback was running for his life for much of the night. Baylor finished with eight sacks, recording seven in the second half. No matter. Sanders still finished 25-for-41 for 341 yards and two touchdowns without committing a turnover. And in the end, Sanders picked himself from the turf and shook off another night of collecting fresh bruises to deliver a 43-yard touchdown pass, while rolling to his left, to LaJohntay Wester on the final play of regulation.

With one big throw, Sanders turned what would’ve been a dispiriting Homecoming setback into a jubilant victory party.

Special seasons and runs to bowl games from programs not accustomed to making them often require transcendent moments. The wild and triumphant return to the Big 12 certainly qualifies.

Think it wasn’t the Buffs night? Well, think about this. One play prior to Sanders’ game-saving heave to Wester, he launched a pass to Will Sheppard inside the 10-yard line. Sheppard looked as if he was boxing out a Baylor defender for a rebound, but untangled himself at the last minute. It would’ve been a tough catch, but Sheppard likely would be the first to say it was a grab he should’ve made.

Instead, the incompletion was a blessing in disguise. Sheppard was falling as the ball arrived, and if he makes the catch, he likely falls short of the goal line and it’s game over. The Buffs had no timeouts and had little chance of racing down the field to get set and execute a play all within the brief time the clock was stopped for a first down. Once the ball hit the turf, Sanders had one more shot with time left on the clock.

There will be plenty for head coach Deion Sanders and his staff to address when the thrill of victory cools and the reality of the game film sets in. CU’s special teams are a hot mess. The offensive line remains a sieve in pass protection, with the Buffs at one point in the second half returning to the quintet that started the first five games, but with three of those players lined up in different positions from the ones they began the season at. If you can’t plug the holes, maybe at least moving the holes around gives defenses something to think about.

Those are problems that may or may not be fixable. Leaning so heavily on Hunter and Sanders, particularly when the latter is picking himself up off the turf all night long, may not be sustainable for another eight games.

Yet on some nights, when the game is in the balance and the clock is ticking away, having Sanders and Hunter is all the Buffs need.