If you turned off the TV when Colorado football had a 29-0 halftime lead, you probably thought you had to get your eyes checked when the news said that Stanford won. Huh? However, Stanford came back to win 46-43 in double overtime as they mounted the fourth largest comeback in Pac-12 history. The comeback was also the largest in Cardinals history, per FOX Sports.
The Buffaloes raced out to a 29-point lead in large part thanks to the play of quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Shedeur threw three touchdowns in the first half while Travis Hunter had a nice return from injury, nabbing 13 receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns during the game.
In the second half, Stanford stole the momentum as quarterback Ashton Daniels and wide receiver Elic Ayomanor led an inspiring comeback. They tied the game with a field goal right before the end of the half before kicking the game-winning score in double overtime.
So how did Colorado let this happen? Let's check out three of the Buffaloes to blame for this loss.
3. Colorado football QB Shedeur Sanders
It feels unfair to put too much of the blame on Shedeur since the quarterback was a huge reason Colorado even had a lead in the first place. Overall Shedeur had a fabulous night, going 33-48 for 400 yards and five touchdowns. However, he missed a key 3rd-down pass and threw an interception in overtime that proved costly.
In the middle of the third quarter, Shedeur missed a throw on 3rd-down to Travis Hunter, who had run free on the left side of the field. Though the incompletion was somewhat understandable given that Shedeur was under tremendous pressure, an on-target pass would have kept the Buffaloes from giving the ball back to Stanford.
The most costly played came later when Shedeur threw the ball up toward Travis Hunter before Stanford's Alaka'i Gilman picked it off. Had Shedeur not thrown the ball across his body over the middle of the field and aimed it toward the right sideline, one of his guys might have had a chance to make a contested catch. Additionally, the Buffaloes could have lived to play another down had he just thrown it out of bounds.
Shedeur doesn't deserve the lone blame for this play. The Stanford defense did a phenomenal job coming after Shedeur to put him under immediate pressure while the secondary was all over the receivers. Colorado's offensive line could have blocked better and the play-caller could have also schemed a better designed play for a receiver to break open.
2. HC Deion Sanders
While Deion has done a tremendous job turning around his team from the one-win squad they were a year ago, he definitely deserves his share of the blame for the blown lead. Deion called out his squad following the game, questioning their love of football and the effort put in. Yet, this motivation should have been drilled into the team at halftime or after the third quarter when Stanford narrowed the lead to just 10 points.
Additionally, Deion's Buffaloes were undisciplined. They committed 17 penalties, including several that sparked Stanford's comeback. One of the biggest penalties during the game was early in the fourth quarter. Colorado got a huge stop on the Cardinals, sacking quarterback Ashton Daniels on 3rd-and-22. Unfortunately, Stanford got a free first down because Travis Hunter earned an unnecessary roughness penalty for hitting receiver Mudia Reuben in the face after the play was over. Instead of punting or settling for a long field goal attempt, Stanford advanced to the redzone and scored a touchdown.
These kind of penalties fall on the players, but also the coach to ensure his players don't make these dumb mistakes.
1. The Buffaloes secondary
The Colorado football secondary had absolutely no answers to wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. First, credit is due to the Stanford receiver, who caught 13 receptions for 294 yards and three touchdowns to lead the comeback. Colorado certainly made some mistakes while trying to cover him, but Ayomanor made incredible plays as well. Travis Hunter was all over the receiver when he caught a 30-yard touchdown pass in overtime, but Ayomanor secured it on Hunter's head before reeling the pass in.
However, the Buffaloes secondary missed several tackles that allowed Ayomanor to have such a huge performance. On his 97-yard catch and run, cornerback Omarion Cooper fell at the worst time while Shilo Sanders and Marvin Ham II both missed tackles. Shilo initially ran slow while chasing Ayomanor, presumably thinking that Ham would make the tackle, but then had to speed up after Ham couldn't bring him down. Had Shilo ran full speed from the start, he may have had a better chance at catching up with Ayomanor.
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