Posts Tagged ‘Anthony Hankerson’

Utah 23, Colorado 17

//posted 11.28.2023

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Freshman CU quarterback Ryan Staub made his first career start, throwing for 195 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough, as the Utes held on for a 23-17 victory in the last regular season Pac-12 game for both teams. Utah senior backup quarterback Luke Bottari was held to 61 yards passing, but scored on two short runs to lead the Utes to the win.

Travis Hunter collected eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown, but had two others called back. On one, Hunter stepped out of bounds; on the other, a catch in the end zone was reversed. The latter catch would have given CU a 14-13 halftime lead, but the Buffs instead had to settle for a 47-yards Alejandro Mata field goal and a 13-10 halftime score.

CU’s scores came on a 30-yard trick play pass from wide receiver Jimmy Horn to running back Dylan Edwards, and an 18-yard touchdown pass from Staub to Hunter. On the day, though, the Buffs were held to 262 yards of total offense. The defense held Utah to 329 yards of total offense, but were unable to get off the field in the final 7:26 of the fourth quarter, as the Utes were able to run out the clock after Hunter’s touchdown made it a one score game midway through the quarter.

“We’re certainly heading in the right direction,” Sanders said. “We’re certainly trending forward. We got our butt kicked twice this year in 12 games. There was no winning those two games but every other game we had a shot, and I think that’s progress.”

No. 23 Arizona 34, CU 31

//posted 11.13.2023

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Tyler Loop connected on a 24-yard field goal with no time remaining, giving No. 23 Arizona a comeback 34-31 win over Colorado 34-31 at a sold-out Folsom Field. Jonah Coleman rushed for 179 yards as the Wildcats earned their fourth consecutive victory, while Colorado lost its fourth straight to fall to 4-6.

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch led the Wildcats to bowl-eligibility in his third season in charge. So he understood the plight of first-year Colorado coach Deion Sanders, trying to turn around a program that went 1-11 a season ago. “I would not be worried if I was a Colorado fan,” Fisch said. “They have a fantastic head coach that is going to do just great.”

Shedeur Sanders ran for a score and threw for two more as the Buffaloes (4-6, 1-6) lost for the sixth time in seven games since a 3-0 start. Sanders also finished with 262 yards passing to go over the 10,000-yard mark for his career.

“We could have won the darn game. I like that we should have won. I’m tired of ‘we could’ve won’,” said coach Coach Prime, whose team had 11 penalties for 83 yards. “There ain’t no lose in me. It don’t sit well with me. It don’t rock well with me. It don’t lay down with me. I have no lose in me.”

No. 23 UCLA 28, Colorado 16

//posted 10.30.2023

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The Colorado offense, last in the nation in sacks allowed, was exposed early and often as No. 23 UCLA slowly pulled away in the second half, posting a 28-16 win before a sold out Rose Bowl crowd. Buff quarterback Shedeur Sanders was harassed and hit all night, suffering seven sacks and numerous other hits. A strong early effort by the Buff defense, which generated four first half turnovers, was wasted as the CU offense netted all of three points off of those opportunities.

The UCLA offense, kept to a 7-6 lead at halftime, methodically pulled away in the second half, finishing with 487 yards of total offense. The Buff offense, meanwhile, posted only 255 yards of total offense … with 86 yards of that total coming in CU’s only touchdown drive of the contest late in the fourth quarter. Shedeur Sanders completed 27-of-43 passes for only 217 yards, with other totals – 24 pressures; 17 hits; 13 knockdowns; seven sacks – telling the true story of the game.

“Offensively, we’ve got to improve,” Coach Prime said. “Our quarterback is taking a beating. (Shedeur Sanders) got an injection at halftime just to block some of the pain… We have to do a better job of protecting him … Running the football, we’ve had a couple lineman go down (with injuries), but that’s no excuse.”

Colorado 27, Arizona State 24

//posted 10.11.2023

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Alejandro Mata kicked a 43-yard field goal with 12 seconds left, lifting Colorado to a 27-24 win over Arizona State. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders accounted for two touchdowns as the Buffs defeated the Sun Devils in Tempe for only the second time in school history. Wide receiver Javon Antonio, who had three catches for 42 yards coming into the game, had five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Antonio also had a 43-yard reception with less than a minute to play, setting up the game-winning field goal.

Arizona State out-gained Colorado, 392 yards to 295, in a game marred by penalties (9-for-88 for ASU; 8-for-65 for CU). Shedeur Sanders completed 26-of-42 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown, also contributing a 16-yard scoring run, but Sanders was harassed all night, being sacked five times. Anthony Hankerson led the Buffs in rushing, with ten carries for 58 yards, but, with the sacks included, the Buffs returned to their anemic ways on the ground, finishing with 30 carries for a net of 56 yards.

“Played like hot garbage,” Sanders said. “And I’m trying to figure this out. Sick of it. I really am. I’m sick of us coming out here and putting forth the effort we put forth in the first half. We’ve had really diligent meetings and we’re trying to figure this out, ’cause I’m sick of it. I’m sorry. I’m happy about the win but I’m not happy in the fashion that we won it in. We’re better than that. We really are better than that, and we gotta start showing that. I expect to win and I expect to win in a better fashion than that. I’m sick of these consistent holes that we’re displaying and the penalties and the things that we’re doing. We’re so much better. I apologize for my anger today, but I don’t accept mediocrity.”

No. 8 USC 48, Colorado 41

//posted 10.2.2023

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Colorado rallied from a 48-21 third quarter deficit to make it a game, but nonetheless lost to USC for the 17th-straight time, falling 48-41 before a sellout crowd of 54.032. Shedeur Sanders threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns, while running for another, but it was not enough to keep up with USC quarterback Caleb Williams, who threw for six touchdowns and 403 yards. For the game, the Buffs actually out-gained the Trojans, with 564 total yards to 498 for USC, but the first half once again was the Buffs’ failing, with USC taking a 34-14 lead into the break.

Freshman wide receiver Omarion Miller, who had no receptions on the season coming into the game, collected seven passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. Jimmy Horn, Jr. contributed two touchdowns and 84 yards with his seven catches, while tight end Michael Harrison had six catches for 44 yards and a 21-yard touchdown. The Buff rushing “attack”, which had only 223 total yards in the first four games of the season, came alive with 193 yards on 45 carries. Running back Anthony Hankerson led the Buffs with 16 carries for 74 yards, posting a two-yard touchdown run.

“Wonderful game. They played their hearts out,” said Coach Prime. “I addressed the team and told them I love each of them, coaches included, because they were resilient. They did not give up and they had multiple, multiple opportunities to give up. They fought to the end. We sustained injuries, meaning the next man up came in and did their thing”.

Despite the second straight defeat, and despite having a defense which had given up 90 points in its last two games, Coach Prime was defiant. “If you can’t see what’s coming with CU football, you’ve lost your mind”, Sanders said. “You’re just a flat out hater. If you can’t see what’s going on and what’s going to transpire over the next several months. Something’s wrong with you.”

Colorado 45, No. 17 TCU 42

//posted 9.4.2023

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Colorado shocked the college football world with a 45-42 upset victory on the road against No. 17 TCU. Head coach Deion Sanders silenced his critics by leading the Buffs to a win over a Horned Frog team which was coming off of a national championship game appearance. The Buffs, a 20.5-point underdog, led throughout much of the game, and withstood comeback after comeback by the Horned Frogs, with a stop on fourth down with under a minute to play sealing the win.

“We were just preaching one stop,” Coach Prime said. “Just one dern stop. I always had confidence because I knew as long as we had the ball, Shedeur was gonna get us down there. But we just needed to stop.”

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders was impressive in leading the Buffs to victory. In his first start at CU, Sanders had a school-record 510 yards passing, completing 38-of-47 attempts for four touchdowns and no interceptions. Freshman running back Dylan Edwards scored four touchdowns, with one on the ground and three through the air, including a 75-yard score to open the third quarter, and a 46-yarder in the fourth quarter for the game winner. Edwards finished with 135 yards receiving on only five receptions – the highest receiving total by a running back in school history. Three other CU receivers topped the 100-yard mark, with Travis Hunter going for 119 on 11 receptions, Xavier Weaver going for 118 yards on six receptions, with Jimmy Horn collecting 11 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.

“I knew we was gonna do this,” Shedeur Sanders said. “The scoreboard is just telling y’all that’s what’s going on, but you didn’t believe. Nobody believed that we was gonna do that.”

No. 14 Utah 63, Colorado 21

//posted 11.27.2022

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Colorado posted a grand total of one first down and 18 total yards of offense in the first half, leading to a 42-0 deficit at the break, with No. 14 Utah coasting to a 63-14 victory. The Buffs finished the season with a 1-11 record, joining the 2012 Jon Embree team as the only 11-loss teams in school history.

Utah quarterback Cam Rising threw for three first half touchdowns, completing 17-of-19 passes for 234 yards as the Buff defense couldn’t stop the Utes. At the break, Utah had 379 yards to CU’s 18, with 20 first downs, averaging almost ten yards per play. The Buff offense, meanwhile, went three-and-out in seven of eight first half drives, averaging less than a yard per play.

Redshirt freshman Maddox Kopp made his first career start at quarterback, completing 15-of-28 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown – a one-yarder to offensive lineman Frank Fillip on a tackle-eligible pass in the final minutes. In the decisive first half, however, Kopp was 5-of-14 for 26 yards, with the Buffs posting negative yardage rushing the ball. In the first two quarters, the Buffs had a total of 13 carries … for minus-eight yards.

“I don’t believe in moral victories normally, but tonight I did,” said CU interim head coach Mike Sanford, who finished with a 1-6 record in that role. “For that team, that locker room of players to not only not quit but actually go fight and put together a really good second half of football speaks to exactly what’s going on in that group and in our business organization right now. It’s been fight. It’s been character. It’s been fighting through all the adversity that we continue to face.”

No. 8 USC 55, Colorado 17

//posted 11.13.2022

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Colorado took its first lead in a month, carrying a 3-2 lead over No. 8 USC into the second quarter, but that was as good as it was get, as No. 8 USC scored 23 unanswered points in the second quarter, coasting to a 55-17 victory. Trojan quarterback Caleb Williams threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for two more to lead the USC rout.

Buff quarterback J.T. Shrout completed 11-of-21 passes for 124 yards, also rushing for a touchdown. But Shrout also gave up a safety on an intentional grounding but had two turnovers with an interception and a fumble, leading to two USC scores. Senior running back Alex Fontenot had 20 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown, with the Buffs managing only 259 yards of total offense (going 3-for-12 on third downs).

“The turnovers and the sack where the intentional grounding safety was called, were too much to overcome against a team with the firepower that they have”, said interim head coach Mike Sanford. “We’re gonna keep on fighting. We’re gonna keep on finding a way to put ourselves in position to win games. I thought we did that and it got away from us today”.

No. 8 Oregon 49, Colorado 10

//posted 11.6.2022

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Oregon quarterback threw for two touchdowns, ran for two more, and was on the receiving end of yet another, leading No. 8 Oregon to a 49-10 rout of Colorado. Former Buff cornerback Christian Gonzalez added two interceptions in the the third quarter to help put the game away. Gonzalez gave the Ducks two short fields, helping Oregon turn a 28-10 game into a 42-10 laugher.

The final stats were not as lopsided as the score. Oregon had 479 yards of total offense; Colorado had 367. The Ducks had 21 first downs; the Buffs also had 21. The difference were the big plays, including three turnovers by the Buff offense. CU also missed a field goal, and turned the ball over on downs three more times. J.T. Shrout completed 17-of-34 passes for 247 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown pass to freshman Jordyn Tyson. For his part, Tyson had five catches for 137 yards. Freshman Anthony Hankerson led the CU rushing attack, with 11 carries for 54 yards … but they all came in the final quarter when the game was well decided.

“Hats off to Oregon, a really good football team,” CU interim head coach Mike Sanford said. “I thought at halftime we were competing at a fairly high level and we came out and put together a drive to put three on the board. But just having answers consistently proved to be a challenge.”

Oregon State 42, Colorado 9

//posted 10.23.2022

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Oregon State running back Damien Martinez ran for 178 yards on 22 carries, including three short scoring runs, as Oregon State embarrassed Colorado, 42-9. Beaver quarterback Ben Gulbranson completed 14-of-22 passes for 202 yards and two more scores as the Beavers accumulated 472 yards of total offense in the rout.

Quarterback J.T. Shrout, in for injured Owen McCown, completed 13-of-29 passes for 209 yards and two interceptions, including a pick six early in the third quarter which made it a 35-3 game, ending any chance of CU coming back from a 21-3 halftime deficit. Jordyn Tyson had 92 yards on three receptions, with all three catches coming in the second half after the outcome of the game had been decided. For the game, the CU offense was held to 290 yards of total offense, including only 84 rushing yards.

“Hats off, Oregon State’s a very good football team,” said CU interim head coach Mike Sanford, whose record fell to 1-1 since taking over for Karl Dorrell. “They’re the upper echelon of the Pac-12 Conference. We had our opportunities, but the margin is so small … and some of those things obviously caught up to us.”

“Looking at a loss like this, we know exactly what it is”, said linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo, who led the team with 11 tackles, including three third down stops. “Before it was a lot of different fingers pointing a lot of different ways. A lot of different things were wrong. We could point okay, we didn’t do X, Y and Z correct. How can we get this better? What players can we put in better situations? How can we as players on the field, what can we do better with our coaches to make them more comfortable to call certain calls? So not really, its on us.”

Colorado 20, Cal 13, OT

//posted 10.17.2022

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A 22-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback J.T. Shrout to Montana Lemonious-Craig gave CU the lead in overtime, with the Buff defense making it stand up with a four down stop, giving Colorado a 20-13 overtime win over California. Cal had a first-and-goal at the CU 10-yard line, but a fourth-and-goal pass fell incomplete, preserving the victory. The Buffs, who had only led once during the first five games of the season – and that was in the first quarter of the first game – had leads of 3-0, 10-7, and 13-10 before taking the lead for good in overtime.

The much maligned Colorado defense, dead last in the nation in rushing defense (giving up an average of 294.2 yards per game), held the Cal offense to 35 yards rushing, with the Bears held to 297 yards of total offense overall. The Buff offense, which had also struggled, posted only 328 yards of total offense, but had its first 100-yard receiving game of the season, with Montana Lemonious-Craig collecting eight passes for 119 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Backup J.T. Shrout, who replaced injured starter Owen McCown in the third quarter, completed 8-of-12 passes for 69 yards.

“This is all about the players,” interim coach Mike Sanford said. “Their resilience, their resolve. I’m really proud of these players. As I told them in the locker room, the best part about being 1-0 in our new season is the chance to be 2-0.”

“I have had some pretty good moments with this program, but I’ll definitely put this one in the books”, said senior defensive lineman Terrance Lang. “It was a hard-fought win and we deserve it. And credit to those fans, man. I love our fans. They show up every time.”

A sellout crowd of 50,471 basked in a warm October afternoon, watching the Buffs first victory since taking down Washington on November 20, 2021. “I mean we love Buff Nation,” said hero of the game Montana Lemonious-Craig. “They stay with us through thick and thin and when they stormed the field it was just great vibes, great energy all over the place and we’re just happy we were able to get the win for them because at the end of the day, our fans show up week in week out, no matter the record, no matter nothing. They come here and give us their all, so we’re glad that we were able to give them our all.”

Arizona 43, Colorado 20

//posted 10.2.2022

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Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura threw for 484 yards and six touchdowns, tying a school record, leading the Wildcats to a 43-30 romp over Colorado. The Wildcats ran over, around, and through the Buff defense for 673 yards, with ten of Arizona’s 11 drives finishing in CU territory. Arizona was good on 9-of-14 third down attempts, controlling the game and the tempo throughout.

CU’s freshman quarterback Owen McCown went 14-for-30 for 186 yards and a touchdown, also contributing a score on a one-yard run in the Buffs’ first touchdown in the first quarter all season. Fellow freshman Anthony Hankerson led the rushing attack, with 68 yards on 12 carries, including a seven-yard touchdown run for his first score as a Buff. CU’s third touchdown – the first time the Buffs had three touchdowns in a game in 2022 – came on a 14-yard pass from McCown to Daniel Arias.

“That was a very challenging offense and that quarterback, we didn’t slow him down,” CU head coach Karl Dorrell said of Arizona’s offense and quarterback Jayden de Laura. “We didn’t slow him down at all … We just have a tremendous amount of work to do. We’re working hard and we’re trying to improve the fundamentals and things that we do. It’s just not showing up fast enough when we play. That’s the unfortunate thing.”

The victory left Arizona, a 1-11 team in 2021, halfway to bowl eligibility with a 3-2 record, Colorado, meanwhile, dropped to 0-5 for just the fourth time in school history (1980; 1984; and 2006).