BOULDER, Colo. — Isaac Wilson faked a handoff, held the safety and hit tight end Charlie Williams over the middle for an 11-yard touchdown in overtime, and Colorado beat Kansas State 27-24 at Folsom Field on Saturday. The win ended a five-game losing streak and a nine-game Big 12 skid dating to last season. Students stormed the field, and the goalposts started coming down.
“It should have never got to overtime, I feel, but we allowed it,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said. “We allowed some crazy things to happen. But in all, we got the victory.”
Colorado (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) built its lead on the ground. Richard Young, the Alabama transfer, carried 24 times for a career-high 120 yards and scored his first two touchdowns as a Buffalo: a 2-yard run in the first quarter and a 22-yard run early in the fourth that capped a 96-yard drive. JaQuail Smith added a 47-yard touchdown run in the third. The Buffs’ 222 rushing yards were the most of Sanders’ four seasons and their first 200-yard game since 2021, according to the TNT broadcast.
“He’s waited patiently. He hasn’t complained, bickered or murmured,” Sanders said of Young. Wilson said Young told him before kickoff he wanted 200 yards and two touchdowns. “The run game is a quarterback’s best friend, right?” Wilson said. “It makes everything cleaner, simpler.”
Colorado kept letting Kansas State back in. Leading 7-0 in the second quarter, DeKalon Taylor kept on the option and reached the goal line, but safety Logan Bartley and cornerback Kaleb Patterson knocked the ball loose before he crossed, and it rolled out of the end zone for a touchback. Kansas State had already pulled starter Dillon Duff after three straight three-and-outs, and Erie native Blake Barnett took the gift 80 yards, helped by a roughing-the-passer call on linebacker Gideon ESPN Lampron. Josh Manning’s 28-yard catch-and-run tied it with 2:25 left in the half. “We fumbled the ball in the end zone,” Sanders said. “Then we come out, and consequently we give up a touchdown because now there’s a late hit on the quarterback.”
Up 21-14 with under five minutes left, the Buffs couldn’t get the first down that would have run out the clock. “We get the first down, we could run out the clock,” Sanders said. “We didn’t get the first down. We had to kick to them.” Barnett, a state champion at Erie High School, got the ball back with under a minute left and hit Garrett Oakley for an 8-yard touchdown with seconds remaining. Kansas State lined up for two. Sanders said Colorado took a timeout to see the look; Kansas State coach Collin Klein said his staff called timeout after CU adjusted its alignment and changed its mind. “Didn’t feel as good about it as we did the first one after their adjustment, and decided to keep playing,” Klein said. The kick tied it.
Lampron finished with 14 tackles, four for loss, and two sacks, and defensive end Yamil Talib had two of Colorado’s other three sacks. Kansas State kicker Luis Rodriguez missed field goals of 49 and 43 yards, both wide left; the second came after a delay-of-game penalty backed the Wildcats out of a fourth-down try Klein said they wanted to go for. In overtime, Kansas State settled for Rodriguez’s 25-yarder. Lampron said defensive coordinator Chris Marve sent them out with a challenge: “This moment will say a lot about who you are. And if you go respond, that’s going to carry the rest of your life.”
Colorado answered by running. Young’s first carry went 9 yards, offensive coordinator Brennan Marion kept calling runs, and on third-and-long Wilson faked to the back and threw to Williams. It was Williams’ only catch of the day and his second game-winning touchdown this season, after Georgia Tech. “The defense is always expecting us to kind of give it to the back there,” Williams said. “So on that play, we’re doing a little pop pass. We’re faking the run and then popping it over.” Wilson said his only job was to hold the backside safety. “He crept in a little bit, but I knew I was throwing that ball, and Charlie made a hell of a catch.”
Wilson finished 14 of 21 for 185 yards with no interceptions, his first turnover-free start of the season. Joseph Williams caught five passes for 89 yards, 41 of them on a catch-and-run that kept the 96-yard drive going. Barnett, who Klein said was coming off an injury, went 18 of 28 for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Sanders said Wilson came to him during the game: “He said, ‘Coach, the running game is phenomenal. I don’t really have to do much.’ I said, ‘That’s the point.’”
After the game, players put up a 10 for quarterback Julian Lewis, who Sanders said had surgery earlier this week. During one timeout, left tackle Bo Hughley carried the shirt of Dominiq Ponder, the backup quarterback who died in a car crash in March, into the huddle. “Playing for Julian, it’s more than just for us,” Lampron said. “Miss both of them. I wish we could have both of them around, and this win was big for them.”
Colorado plays at Arizona State on Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. Kansas State (4-4, 1-4) hosts No. 24 Oklahoma State. CU leads the all-time series 46-22-1.
