Colorado Buffaloes Suffer Devastating Loss to Utah Utes

Salt Lake City, Utah – The Colorado Buffaloes faced a humiliating defeat against the Utah Utes on Saturday night, trailing 43-0 at halftime. After a bye week following their 24-17 win over No. 22 Iowa State earlier this month, coach Deion Sanders returned to the field, only to witness his team struggle across all areas of play.

In the first half, Colorado’s defense allowed a staggering 398 total yards, with Utah quarterback Byrd Ficklin contributing 163 rushing yards alone. Meanwhile, the Buffaloes’ offense produced a dismal -18 total yards, with six of their nine offensive drives ending in three-and-outs. Colorado struggled to gain any momentum, often punting after gaining two yards or less.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” analyst Brock Osweiler said during the ESPN broadcast. “We knew Utah was a really good football team coming into this game. But Colorado—they had momentum coming into this football game.” Here are the official first-half team stats:

COLORADO vs UTAH
First downs: 3 vs 16
Total yards: -18 vs 398
Passing yards: 2 vs 138
Rushing yards: -20 vs 260
Yards per rush: -2.4 vs 8.4
Time of possession: 11:32 vs 18:28

After the break, Sanders delivered a message to his team through sideline reporter Stormy Buonantony. He urged players to fight and focus on character. “This is about what kind of person—not even player—what kind of person do you want to be? You’re going to see a different attitude from this team in this half,” he said.

Despite the overwhelming first-half score, the football community looked on in shock at Colorado’s performance.