Deion Sanders, Colorado suffer embarrassing loss to Stanford with second-half collapse
Deion Sanders and Colorado looked to have a win against Stanford in the bag on Friday in a game that was the definition of #Pac12AfterDark.
The Buffs led 29-0 with just under 3 minutes in the 3rd quarter. But Stanford rattled off 26 unanswered points, and suddenly, a 29-point Buffs lead was a 3-point Cardinal deficit with 2-and-a-half minutes played in the 4th.
Colorado stretched the lead back to 10, but a Stanford TD with 5 minutes left plus a Joshua Karty field goal with no time left sent it into overtime, where the Buffs found the end zone on their opening possession. But Stanford tied it up on the ensuing drive, thanks to this incredible catch:
— follow @dubs408 (@somedubvids) October 14, 2023
The Buffs, on the 1st possession of the 2nd overtime, had a 3rd-and-goal from the Stanford 2, but Shedeur Sanders threw an interception in the end zone. That set up Karty’s 31-yarder to claim an improbable win for the Cardinal.
Joshua Karty with the game winner in OT from 31 out. #ColoradoBuffaloes blew a 29-0 lead. #coloradovsstanford pic.twitter.com/nqACVi437D
— Jetgaming (@_jetgaming) October 14, 2023
This from ESPN’s stats department puts it into full perspective. The Buffs had no business losing this one with such a sizable lead:
A couple minutes into the 3rd quarter last night, Colorado converted a 3rd & 2 for a first down while holding a 29-0 lead.
ESPN Analytics gave them a 99.8% chance to win at that point.
Instead, the Buffs suffered their largest blown lead in program history, losing in 2OT. pic.twitter.com/r2dDxJMFsK
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 14, 2023
Colorado falls to 4-3 and has a bye week to decompress from this one. It next faces UCLA on Oct. 28.
