Colorado’s goals weren’t fully accomplished after the Buffaloes’ win over Cincinnati late Saturday night.
Colorado moved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12 with a 34-23 win over the Bearcats. The Buffs are now bowl eligible after going 4-8 in Deion Sanders’ first year in Boulder a season ago.
“It’s cute, it really is. Because we really want that,” Sanders said of bowl eligibility. ‘But that’s not the only thing we’re looking for. That’s one of the hurdles that we jump over, that we go over. That’s a huge hurdle. We’re happy, we’re excited. But that is not the end goal for us. That’s the beginning. But we are grateful and appreciate that the hard work is being noticed.”
Shedeur Sanders threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns, while Travis Hunter looked fully healthy and back to his stellar two-way performance. Hunter, who had missed the second half of each of the last two games with a shoulder injury, was a key factor on both offense and defense, having nine catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
His second score came late in the second quarter when Cincinnati’s defense inexplicably lost him deep downfield near the end zone.
“We never doubt Travis,” Sanders said. “For him to be himself is exactly what we expect. It’s the only thing we expect. We don’t expect to see anything different.”
The Buffaloes are off in Week 10 before closing out the season with four games that look a lot more winnable than they did at the start of the year, as the Buffs’ opponents are a combined 5-15 in conference play.
Colorado visits Texas Tech on Nov. 9; the Red Raiders have lost their last two games after starting their Big 12 slate 3-0. Colorado next hosts conference favorite Utah in the preseason on Nov. 16. The Utes are a mess and are 1-4 in the Big 12 and 4-4 overall without QB Cameron Rising. A trip to Kansas City to play Kansas awaits Nov. 23 before Oklahoma State visits on Black Friday. After winning the Big 12 title game a season ago, Oklahoma State is 0-5 in the conference after a loss to Baylor on Saturday.
