Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion said he’d have to “learn the lesson” his offense’s lack of production was trying to teach him before taking on No. 11 Utah.
After trailing 13-0 at the half, Marion and his offense were still trying to grasp the concept. It ran just 17 plays (10 pass, seven rushes) for 70 yards and committed one back-breaking penalty on each of its four drives. Utah ultimately capitalized on the mistakes by dominating time of possession; the Utes possessed the ball for 14 more minutes through 60 minutes.
“When we don't beat ourselves, we're a pretty darn good ball team,” CU head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders said after the contest. “The thing that really damaged us was time of possession.”
With a healthy dose of inside runs, screens and out routes, CU didn’t post a drive longer than six plays in the opening two quarters. The Black-and-Gold earned one first down across the first three drives, resulting in three punts. Then, after picking up two first downs on its fourth and final drive before halftime, Utah safety Rabbit Evans picked off Colorado quarterback Isaac Wilson by stealing a pass out of tight end Charlie Williams’ hands.
Following the intermission and some improvisation, however, things began to click.
Despite throwing an interception before the half, Wilson reacted well under pressure against his former team and found an open JaQuail Smith with nothing but green grass in front of him; he ran 68 yards for CU’s first score on the third play of the third quarter. Sanders, Smith and Wilson all confirmed that getting the ball to Smith with so much space wasn’t intentional; it just happened and worked out.
“That’s all Isaac,” Sanders said. “[Smith] checked out of the backfield and did his thing, and Isaac saw him.”
After Utah punted to start its second-half offense, the Buffs found seven more points and a brief lead, capped by an 18-yard DeKalon Taylor score using the triple option. Wideouts Quanell Farrakhan Jr. and Joseph Williams had two big catches for first downs on differing concepts, and Smith added two decent-sized runs.
“We got you,” Smith told Sanders at the half. Wilson added that he helped conduct a “players’ meeting” at halftime.
Elliott Arnold then nailed a 32-yard field goal after a Naeten Mitchell interception, and somehow Colorado hadn’t run more than seven plays on a drive. After barely seeing the field in the first half due to punts, CU found easy scoring to open the second and a 17-13 lead late in the third quarter.
“Just letting it go,” Sanders said, was the biggest key to unleashing the offense. “I believe in Brennan. I believe in this offense.”
Yet the Utes’ offense finally produced second-half success and retook a 20-17 lead with just over a minute before the final quarter.
Then, while Smith broke off a 26-yard carry before the end of the third, the offense fell back into woes in the fourth. The drive into the quarter stalled out, followed by a three-and-out. And even though the Buffs’ defense got the ball back for Wilson while down three, he was picked off at midfield with just over five minutes to play.
Utah capitalized on the interception, adding another touchdown to lead 27-17 a few plays later.
“They played a lot more zone than I thought this week, but we were prepared for it,” Wilson said. “I just need to be smarter with balls; [I was] trying to make a big play. I could definitely just check down and ran myself, but I was trying to do a little extra, fit it in a tight window.”
While Wilson found leading wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. (five catches, 70 yards) for a big pickup and a short touchdown with under two minutes to play, and even got the ball back with under a minute to go while trailing by three points with no timeouts, the Buffs’ offense came up just short. A late Wilson scramble and near-miracle pitch with seconds to go almost set up a long field goal to tie, but a forward pass negated the play before a Hail Mary fell incomplete.
Colorado lost 27-24.
“That pitch was awesome,” Sanders said. “It was just momentum, you know. Momentum took him, and that pitch went forward.”
Wilson completed 18 of 30 passes for 256 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He added 41 rushing yards.
Smith put up 141 yards and a score, including 73 rushing yards on 13 carries.
However, even though CU reached 24 points, its most against a Power Four opponent in 2026, it fell to 2-4 and failed to score outside the third quarter. The offense didn’t have a drive last longer than eight plays.
“We should be winning. Offense needs to step it up even more,” Wilson said. “Like, that game made me so angry. I'm so mad and sad about that game because I wanted it so bad.”
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