The new-look Colorado Buffaloes can run the ball, as they vowed they would do this season.
Stopping the run is another story.
In the opening game of head coach Deion Sanders’ third season in Boulder — and the first in the post-Travis Hunter/Shedeur Sanders era — CU played with Georgia Tech all Friday night, but fell to the Yellow Jackets, 27-20, at Folsom Field.
Georgia Tech overcame three first-quarter turnovers, rushed for 320 yards on the night and scored the game-winning points on a 45-yard Haynes King sprint to the end zone with 1 minute, 7 seconds to play.
Led by new quarterback Kaidon Salter, the Buffs weren’t sharp on offense most of the night but tied the game midway through the fourth quarter. They were unable to muster a comeback in the final moments, however.
CU managed just 305 yards on offense, but after ranking last in the country in the run the past two years, it got 146 yards on the ground. That’s the third-highest total in a game in Sanders’ three seasons.
Salter completed 17-of-28 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score in his CU debut.
King, the Yellow Jackets’ sixth-year senior quarterback, had two fumbles and an interception early, but ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 143 yards.
The first two plays of the game were a microcosm of the entire opening quarter. Georgia Tech’s Malik Rutherford gained 13 yards on a run on the first play, but King fumbled on the second play, with CU’s Martavius French recovering.
The Buffs capitalized just five plays later, when Salter scrambled and hit DeKalon Taylor in the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown pass.
Georgia Tech mixed big plays with turnovers on its next two possessions, too.
The Yellow Jackets followed up gains of 12 and 13 yards with another King fumble on the second possession. On the third, the Jackets had 38 yards on five plays, but then King was intercepted by DJ McKinney. CU, however, failed to capitalize on the second two turnovers, going three-and-out both times.
The Yellow Jackets then drove 84 yards to get a 33-yard field goal by Aidan Birr. Then, after a CU punt, they went 80 yards in 10 plays, with King punching it in from 4 yards to give them a 10-7 lead.
CU responded with a 51-yard march to set up Alejandro Mata for a 42-yard field goal. Tech had enough time, though, to drive down field for a 43-yard field goal from Birr on the final play of the half, putting the Buffs in a 13-10 hole at the break.
In the first half, Tech dominated statistically, with 279 yards and 18 first downs to just 119 yards and five first downs for the Buffs. But the turnovers were the equalizer.
Behind Micah Welch, the Buffs got the ground game going a bit in the third quarter. He rushed for 41 yards in the quarter, helping to set up a game-tying, 29-yard field goal from Mata with six minutes to play in the third.
King and Tech responded, though, with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. King accounted for 48 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown run to put the Yellow Jackets up 20-13 going into the fourth quarter.
CU opened the fourth with its best drive of the night, a 15-play, 75-yard march capped by Salter scrambling for a 7-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 20-20, setting up the dramatic finish.
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