CU Football Loses Narrowly to Kansas State After Losing Travis Hunter

When cornerback Colton Hood intercepted Kansas Sate quarterback Avery Johnson with four minutes left, it seemed like Colorado was about to pull off a season-defining upset.

After trailing by two scores going into the fourth quarter, the University of Colorado Buffaloes put together a touchdown drive then capitalized off Hood's defense to go up 28-24 with just three minutes left in the game against the Kansas State Wildcats.

But less than a minute later, Johnson connected with Jayce Brown for a Kansas State touchdown. And a minute after that, the Buffaloes turned the ball over on downs in a controversial play that some, including Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, believed should have been called defensive pass interference.

Sanders didn't blame referees for the loss, though, instead pointing to Kansas State's potent running game.

"That was the goal: to try to stop the run," Sanders told media after the game. "We didn't do that whatsoever. They had 224 yards rushing. They ultimately dominated the time of possession, which is not good, because now we can't get on the field and do what we're capable of doing."

Part of those difficulties included the loss of Colorado's top receivers — Heisman candidate Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr. — to injury in the first half. Then fellow receivers Omarion Miller and Terrell Timmons Jr. went down in the second half, depleting the targets available for quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

"Losing Travis and Jimmy and others was tremendous, because they're vital parts of our team, vital parts of our identity," the elder Sanders said. "They're vital parts of who we are. That took a took a blow."

Coach Prime said he didn't have an update on the injured players after the game, except to say he thought he saw Miller wearing a boot or cast on his leg.

Along with giving up over 200 rushing yards, the Buffaloes struggled to tackle in the open field in the loss. Sanders's son and Buffaloes starting safety, Shilo, returned from a three-week absence due to injury and couldn't seem to keep up, adding to the disappointing results one week after the encouraging results Colorado's defense had in its last game against the University of Central Florida.

"I thought he played horrible," Deion said of Shilo. "I thought he was rusty. I thought he didn't have his footing."

He went on to say that he believes Shilo will come back stronger in the future.

With the loss, CU now has a 4-2 record and its first confernce defeat after rejoining the Big 12, with the team's other loss coming against Nebraska.

Fans are hopeful Colorado doesn't stop at four wins as it did last season, when the team started 3-0 only to finish with a 4-8 record. Had Colorado managed to beat 18-ranked Kansas State in this game, the team would have had a strong shot to be ranked in the top 25 for the first time this season.

Despite the strong performance, Sanders said he believes the team needs a signature win moving forward, and he believes they will get one.

"This team has heart," he said." They have integrity. They're tough. They love to play this game. We just came up short. We got to just learn how to win these particular games."

Colorado heads to Tucson next week to play the University of Arizona, which has a 3-3 record.