College Football World Lost for Words Over Colorado’s Horrific First Half vs. Utah

There are blowouts, and then there is whatever is happening at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.

Coming off the bye week that followed a 24–17 win over No. 22 Iowa State earlier this month, coach Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes were handed a rude welcome back to the gridiron by Utah. Entering halftime, Colorado trailed the Utes 43–0 and were getting shellacked in every facet of the game.

The Buffaloes’ defense allowed a whopping 398 total yards—including 163 rushing yards to Utah quarterback Byrd Ficklin alone—in that first half, compared to a mind-boggling -18 total yards gained by the Colorado offense.

Six of Colorado’s nine offensive drives in the first half were three-and-outs, and five possessions ended with the Buffaloes gaining two yards or less before punting it away (or, well, a safety or a blocked punt).

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” analyst Brock Osweiler said on the ESPN broadcast. “We knew Utah was a really good football team coming into this game. … But Colorado—they had momentum coming into this football game.”

Here’s a look at the official first-half team stats:

After the break, sideline reporter Stormy Buonantony relayed Sanders’s message to his team: “I told them to fight. At this point, this is a half about character. This is about what kind of person—not even player—what kind of person do you want to be? You’re going to see a different attitude from this team in this half.”

The college football world was stunned by Colorado’s ugly half:

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