Colorado’s objectives are not fully accomplished after the Buffaloes’ win over Cincinnati late Saturday night.
Colorado moved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12 with a 34-23 victory over the Bearcats. The Buffs are now bowl eligible after they went 4-8 a season ago in Deion Sanders’ first year in Boulder.
“It’s cute, it really is. Because we really want that,” Sanders said of bowl eligibility. “But that’s not all we’re after. That’s one of the hurdles that we’re jumping over, that we’re going over. That’s a tremendous hurdle. We’re happy, we’re excited. But that’s not the end goal for us. That’s the beginning. But we are thankful and appreciative that the hard work is going noticed.”
Shedeur Sanders threw for 323 yards and two TDs while Travis Hunter looked fully healthy and was back to his two-way excellence. Hunter, who had missed the second half of each of the last two games with a shoulder injury, was a key factor on both offense and defense and had nine catches for 153 yards and two TDs.
His second score came at the end of the second quarter as Cincinnati’s defense inexplicably lost him deep down the field near the end zone.
“We never doubt Travis whatsoever,” Sanders said. “Him being himself is just what we expect. It’s the only thing we expect. We don’t expect to see anything else.”
The Buffaloes are off in Week 10 before closing the season with four games that look a heck of a lot more winnable than they did to start the year as the Buffs’ opponents are a combined 5-15 in conference games.
Colorado visits Texas Tech on November 9; the Red Raiders have lost their last two games after starting their Big 12 slate 3-0. Colorado then hosts preseason conference favorite Utah on Nov. 16. The Utes are a mess and are 1-4 in the Big 12 and 4-4 overall without QB Cameron Rising. A trip to Kansas City to play Kansas awaits on Nov. 23 before Oklahoma State visits on Black Friday. After making the Big 12 title game a season ago, Oklahoma State is 0-5 in the conference following a loss at Baylor on Saturday.