Shedeur Sanders overcame a shaky start to throw three touchdown passes, LaJohntay Wester returned a punt 76 yards for a score and No. 18 Colorado pulled away late to beat Utah 49-24.
The win was the fourth straight for the Buffs, raising the season record to 8-2, 6-1. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Buffs continued to control their own destiny for a berth in the Big 12 championship game.
Sanders threw an interception on his first pass of the game and later lost a fumble. But he settled down and finished 30 of 41 for 340 yards. He connected twice on touchdown passes with Will Sheppard, with freshman Drelon Miller posting the third receiving touchdown. Sanders upped his touchdown pass count for the season to 27, one short of the single-season school record set by Sefo Liufau in 2014.
Leading 35-16 early in the fourth quarter, the Buffaloes saw the Utes stage a late rally to make things interesting down the stretch. The comeback was thwarted, however, by D.J. McKinney’s interception and then a sack from Shilo Sanders that resulted in a fumble that Colorado covered.
On the afternoon, the Buffs generated 405 total yards of offense, while holding the Utes to 272. Utah, which had made a habit of running the ball straight at the Colorado defense over the years, finished with 31 yards rushing on 30 carries.
“We’re happy with where we are and we know where we could be,” Coach Prime said. “That’s the thing. We’re not even where we could be right now. You see the mistakes, you see the little things that we could clean up, but when you look at the statistics, you say, dang, that was phenomenal.”
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