With just over six minutes to play in the third quarter, two-way superstar and Heisman candidate Travis Hunter screamed on the Colorado Buffaloes' (3-1, Big 12 1-0) sideline, visibly upset as he wondered how such a star-studded offense could be forced to punt, again.
At that point, he had three catches for 45 yards. The Buffs had just suffered a three-and-out and the scoreboard read 24-17 in favor of the Baylor Bears (2-2, Big 12 0-1).
On the very next drive for CU, Hunter reeled in two catches for 77 yards to set up the game-tying touchdown to knot the game at 24. The dawg, as they say, within the junior phenom was awoken.
"You can tell I wanted the ball more in my hands because I know what I'm going to do," Hunter said. "I'm going to go back and shine and make a play for my team."
By the final play, up by a score in overtime, Hunter was up to seven catches for 130 yards. Yet, it was up to the defensive version of Hunter, who stepped up and placed his head on the ball held by Baylor running back Dominic Richardson at the goal line. The ball squirted free, rolling out of the back of the end zone and warranting the first CU field rush of the year, even if it was a little premature.
"We got to win," Hunter said of what was going through his mind during the thrilling finish.
Before the actual last play of the game, however, there was what was sure to be the final snap, until it wasn't.
With two seconds to play, the ball placed on Baylor's 43-yard line, quarterback Shedeur Sanders had to find a way to complete one more pass as his team trailed 31-24 following a missed Baylor field goal. According to Sanders, he told RB Isaiah Augustave a few magic words.
"Do this with everything you got, bro," Sanders said on what he told Augustave. "Seriously."
Augustave and the offensive line helped pick up Baylor's five-man rush, which had accounted for eight sacks and 12 tackles for loss on Saturday night, allowing Sanders to roll to his left. With a split second before getting hit, he fired a strike – no, a "prayer" as Sanders said.
"I just threw it up to God..."
With a one-on-one matchup, wide receiver LaJohntay Wester located the ball and laid out to the left of the "B" of the "BUFFALOES" lettering in the end zone.
"...and God answered the prayer."
With chaos ensuing, it was Colorado's game to win. The Buffs scored on the opening drive of overtime with true freshman RB Micah Welch punching in his second touchdown of the game to go up 38-31. Welch finished with 22 yards on nine carries. While the defense allowed Baylor to get down to the two-yard line, Hunter was waiting for the final play.
The win began the Buffs' second era in the Big 12 with a bang, though it didn't appear it would end up that way, even before the unlikely end to regulation. The Bears went up 24-10 in the first half following a 45-yard touchdown run by QB Sawyer Robertson, who finished the game 11-of-21 passing for 148 yards along with 82 rushing yards. CU's special teams' play was worse than sub-par too, allowing a 100-yard kickoff return for six among numerous lengthy returns that consistently gave Baylor favorable field positioning.
Yet, Colorado didn't only end the second half with some fireworks. Sanders and WR Omarion Miller linked up for a 58-yard touchdown, where Miller snagged a long pass, somehow kept his knee millimeters off the grass while breaking a tackle and made it a one-score ball game entering the break.
These types of big plays were the name of the game, though Colorado had just one more than Baylor.
"I don't like how it played out," CU head coach Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders said after the game, "but I love the results."
Shedeur finished the game completing 25-of-41 passes for 341 yards while rushing for a touchdown and 26 yards. Wester's miraculous, game-tying snag was one of four, accounting for 43 of his 68 yards. Hunter added three tackles to his stat line, though safety Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig led the team with 13 tackles with 10 being solo.
The Buffs head to Orlando next week to take on the UCF Knights (3-0).
Cover photo by Talus Schreiber/Instagram
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