Deion Sanders, Colorado survive wild game: `God answered the prayer’

BOULDER, Colo. – The fans stormed the field before the game was even over.

It was wet. It was wild.  And now the Colorado Buffaloes are on the march again after an incredible series of clutch plays at the end of a 38-31 overtime win at home against Baylor.  

Cue the celebration in the locker room under head coach Deion Sanders.

“It was a party, man,” Colorado receiver LaJohntay Wester said of the postgame scene. “I loved it, man… Ain’t nothing like here, man, especially after a win. There’s nothing like it.”

There was nothing like what happened at the end of the game, either. After falling behind by 14 points earlier in the game, the Buffs stormed back with a Hail Mary pass as time expired in regulation play, followed by a forced fumble in overtime to end the game from two-way superstar Travis Hunter.

“Great, great, great, great, great win,” Deion Sanders afterward.

And yet it all came so close to never happening. Here’s how it went down and what it means after Colorado survived – barely – in front of a sold-out homecoming crowd of 52,794 at Folsom Field. The Buffs are now off to a 3-1 start for the second straight year under Sanders while Hunter keeps finding new ways to steal the show.

The final drive in regulation for Colorado

Baylor (2-2) almost put the game away in the fourth quarter with a 45-yard field goal on its final drive of regulation with 2:16 remaining. If the kick succeeded, the Buffs likely would have lost. But the kick missed wide right, allowing the Buffs to get the ball back with Baylor leading 31-24.  

What happened next was a parade of close calls, near misses and “Perfect Timing,” which also happens to be the rap song of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s youngest son.

“They never gave up,” Deion Sanders said. “They never surrendered.”

At one point, Shedeur Sanders faced fourth down and 1 at the Baylor 46-yard line – a play that would have ended the game for the Buffs if he didn’t convert. Sanders instead got a first down on a 3-yard run to keep Colorado’s hopes alive.

Two plays later, Sanders threw a long second-down pass near the end zone to receiver Will Sheppard, a transfer from Vanderbilt. But Sheppard dropped the potential touchdown catch, stopping the clock with two seconds left.

“We should have had that one,” Deion Sanders said. “But we caught the one that we needed to catch.”

The Hail Mary, nearly 30 years after that other Hail Mary

After the drop by Sheppard, there was time for one more play – a 43-yard Hail Mary pass, nearly 30 years to the day of Colorado’s 64-yard Hail Mary to win at Michigan as time expired on Sept. 24, 1994.

“I just trusted God,” Shedeur Sanders said. “I just threw it up to God, and God answered the prayer for sure.”

Shedeur Sanders rolled left and lofted it to the left corner of the end zone, where Wester turned to catch it in the rain for a 43-yard touchdown catch with no time remaining in the fourth quarter. It helped that Baylor’s defense was paying more attention to Hunter, allowing Wester to free himself more easily to reel it in.

“It was a Hail Mary,” said Wester, a transfer from Florida Atlantic. “I was one on one. I just ran down there. I see him (Shedeur) rolling out, and then I see the ball coming my way. As a receiver, your job is to make the quarterback right whether it’s a good ball or bad ball, and I just made a play on the ball.”

After the extra-point kick, the game went to overtime tied 31-31.

Overtime and the fumble forced by Travis Hunter

Colorado got the ball first in overtime and drove 25 yards in seven plays, including eight yards rushing and 12 yards passing from Shedeur Sanders. “Whatever it takes to win,” Shedeur said.

Freshman running back Micah Welch rushed up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown to cap the drive, helping put the Buffs up 38-31.

But Baylor still had its chance to respond and even ran four plays to get to the Colorado 2-yard line, including a 13-yard run by quarterback Sawyer Robertson that would have been a touchdown if not for an open-field tackle by Buffs safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig.

One play later, the ball went to running back Dominic Richardson, who had a clear path to the end zone except for one player.

Travis Hunter.

Hunter stood his ground at the goal line, forcing Richardson to try to leap past him.  The ball then came loose and tumbled into the end zone.

“I knew that was coming at me,” Hunter said. “They don’t think I can tackle, so I had to show ‘em.”

Hunter finished with seven catches for 130 yards on offense and three tackles and the clutch forced fumble on defense.

The crazy postgame scene

After the fumble, the game was over. Buffs win.

Or so it seemed.

Colorado fans reacted to the fumble by storming the field in the rain, but game officials still needed to review replays of the play to confirm it. It wasn’t quite over yet, in other words, leading to a call for the fans to move back and leave.

“I want to apologize to the opposition, the way we stormed the field,” Deion Sanders said.

Sanders said he didn’t even get the chance to shake hands afterward with Baylor head coach Dave Aranda.

“I don’t like what transpired at the end of the game, but I love what transpired at the end of the game,” Deion Sanders said. “We have a fan base that’s phenomenal.”

After replays confirmed the fumble, the homecoming party kicked into overdrive while the Bears went home wondering what had just happened. Aranda called it a “heart-wrenching loss” and said his team was “gutted.”

For his part, Hunter celebrated afterward by rapidly crawling on his hands and knees through the end zone – a personal shoutout to popular online streamer Kai Cenat.

“I had to do it,” Hunter said.

The Buffs still kind of got lucky

They gave up two huge touchdown plays in the second quarter, silencing a crowd that had come to make noise. The first was a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Baylor’s Jamaal Bell down the right sideline. The second was a 45-yard fourth-down run from Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson, helping put the Bears up 24-10 with 4:19 left before halftime.

The Buffs also gave up eight quarterback sacks, just a week after only giving up one in a 28-9 win at Colorado State.

Shedeur Sanders called the win “a relief.” He completed 25 of 41 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns, including a 58-yarder to sophomore receiver Omarion Miller in the second quarter to help cut Baylor’s lead to 24-17 with 50 seconds left before halftime. Miller almost was tackled near the 35-yard line but kept going to score. But Shedeur found fault with himself and said he missed reads.

“You gotta understand I can’t have a game like that again,” Shedeur said.

The question now is whether the Buffaloes can sustain their success, unlike last year when they lost seven of their final eight games after starting 3-1. If they had lost a game like that against Baylor, they’d be facing a serious uphill fight to get the minimum six wins required to earn a postseason bowl berth.

Now they’ve got momentum heading into a cross-country trip to play Saturday at Central Florida (3-0), followed by a weekend off Oct. 5.

“I don’t like how it played out, but I loved the results,” Deion Sanders said. “I think we’re so much better than what we’re showing you at times.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com