Colorado Takes Down No. 14 Houston and Keeps Its Season Alive
Down 20-7 with less than three minutes left in the first half, Colorado scored 28 unanswered points and beat No. 14 Houston 42-32 on Friday, November 13, at Folsom Field. In front of 47,495 fans, Deion Sanders' team ran for 249 yards and five touchdowns, earned its first win over a top-15 team in the AP poll since 2007 and kept its bowl hopes alive. The Cougars leave Boulder with a third loss that weighs heavily on their College Football Playoff chase.
Thirty one-sided minutes, then three runs
Nothing in the previous weeks pointed to this. Colorado had lost five of its last six games and came in at 3-6, 1-5 in the Big 12. Houston arrived at 7-2, 4-2 in conference play, as a ranked team that needed to win every remaining game.
For nearly a full half, the expected script played out without a hitch. Houston scored on each of its first four possessions: a 27-yard field goal by Jonathan Dimas at the end of a 15-play opening drive, an 8-yard run by Makhi Hughes on the first snap of the second quarter, a 4-yard pass from Conner Weigman to Amare Thomas, then a 52-yard field goal by Dimas. With 2 minutes, 36 seconds left before the break, the Cougars led 20-7 and controlled everything: the tempo, the ball and the scoreboard.
The first-half numbers show how thoroughly Houston owned the clock. The Cougars held the ball for just over 20 of the 30 minutes, piled up 18 first downs to Colorado's nine and converted six of their 10 third downs. Weigman had already completed 15 of 22 passes for 141 yards. And yet Houston walked into the locker room trailing by a point.
The explanation fits in three carries. Richard Young had opened the door earlier in the quarter with a 38-yard touchdown run. With under two minutes left in the half, DeKalon Taylor found a crease and did not stop until he was 67 yards downfield, on his only carry of the first half. Colorado quickly got the ball back, and JaQuail Smith covered 32 yards to the end zone 15 seconds before halftime. The score at the break: Buffaloes 21, Cougars 20.
At halftime, Colorado had 161 rushing yards on just 12 carries, an average of 13.4 yards per attempt, with less than 10 minutes of possession. For an offense that had not scored more than 27 points in any of its previous five games, three touchdown runs of 30-plus yards in a single quarter were enough to erase 28 minutes of Houston control.
The third quarter that flipped the game
The second half could have started with a backlash. On Colorado's first offensive snap, a pass from Isaac Wilson was deflected and intercepted. But on the very next play, defensive back Randon Fontenette sacked Weigman and knocked the ball loose, and Santana Hopper fell on it. Three plays later, Wilson hit Joseph Williams on a short throw that the receiver turned into a 53-yard touchdown: 28-20.
Houston then let one chance after another slip away. The Cougars moved into Colorado territory on their next drive but came up short on fourth down. The Buffaloes cashed in despite a scare: Wilson, hurt in the leg, limped off the field midway through the third quarter. His replacement, freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne, scored on his very first snap, a 14-yard keeper. 35-20.
On the following possession, Boo Carter intercepted Weigman. A fumble, a failed fourth down, an interception: in three drives, the offense that had scored four times in four tries before halftime gave it all back. Houston was shut out in the third quarter while Colorado added 14 points. Between 20-7 and 35-20, the Buffaloes scored 28 in a row.
A defense that adjusted, an offense that ran the clock
Credit goes first to the Colorado defense. After giving up 20 points and letting Houston hold the ball for two-thirds of the first half, it forced two turnovers and a fourth-down stop on the Cougars' first three drives after the break. Weigman finished 26 of 42 for 272 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, but a good share of that production came in a fourth quarter in which Houston was chasing the game. Randon Fontenette finished with 13 tackles, 12 of them solo, the most of any player in the game.
Sanders acknowledged at his news conference that the plan had to change. “We changed it up on defense tonight because they just had their way the first few series,” the Colorado coach said. He also pointed to a detail of the restart: getting the ball to open the second half and getting the team to believe.
The finish was not without tension. Early in the final quarter, Colorado went for it on fourth-and-3 in Houston territory; Wilson, back in the game, was stopped. The Cougars answered with a 22-yard pass from Weigman to tight end Patrick Overmyer, but the two-point try failed: 35-26.
That is when the running game did something other than produce long gains. Colorado responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock, during which the offense put the ball on the ground twice and recovered it both times. Young finished it with a 2-yard run, his second touchdown, with 3 minutes, 59 seconds to play. Weigman found Trent Walker for a 4-yard score inside the final two minutes, but the second two-point attempt failed as well, and Houston never got back within one possession in the fourth quarter.
The contrast between Colorado's two halves is worth noting. Before the break, the Buffaloes lived on three flashes. After it, they won the way teams with a lead win: by getting stops on the decisive downs, by running to drain the clock and by holding the ball for more than six minutes when Houston had closed to nine points. The paradox is in the box score: Houston gained more yards (477 to 466) and more first downs (28 to 20), behind Makhi Hughes' 106 rushing yards and Patrick Overmyer's nine catches for 116 yards, but turned the ball over twice to Colorado's once.
Sanders summed up the game in one word: balance. “Once we gain balance defensively, we're able to attain balance offensively,” he said. “The offense showed up, the defense showed up, special teams showed up.” The numbers agree: Colorado converted 10 of its 14 third downs, including seven of nine after the break, while Houston went 9 of 16.
In all, Colorado gained 466 yards, 249 of them on the ground, the highest rushing total of the Sanders era, with five rushing touchdowns from four different players. Wilson completed 17 of 25 passes for 217 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. The offense installed this season by coordinator Brennan Marion had not topped 27 points in its previous five outings; it put up 42 against a ranked team. Young carried 21 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns, and Joseph Williams caught five passes for 80 yards.
This win also belongs to a quarterback whose standing was debated for much of the fall. A former Utah player, Wilson took the starting job from Julian Lewis before the Texas Tech game on October 3 and has held it since. Against Houston, he lost one ball, that deflected and intercepted pass at the start of the second half, which his defense erased on the next snap, and he then led the long fourth-quarter drive on a sore leg.
His coach did not idealize him, though. “Isaac is Isaac. Isaac gonna give you some highs and he's going to make you say ‘darn it’ a couple times,” Sanders said. “We love that he's a fighter. He's tough.” He added that his quarterback had calmed down and let the game come to him instead of trying to do it all.
What it changes for Sanders and for Houston
For Colorado, the meaning goes beyond the standings. The Buffaloes had not beaten a top-15 team in the AP poll since a 27-24 win over then-No. 3 Oklahoma on September 29, 2007. Sanders, whose future had been openly debated after a 3-6 start, is now 20-27 in Boulder. At 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the Big 12, his team has won two of its last three games, both at home: 27-24 in overtime against Kansas State on October 31, then this one.
Colorado had already hosted two ranked teams at Folsom Field this season, losing 29-7 to Texas Tech on October 3 and 27-24 to Utah on October 17. The third try was the right one, and it evens out a series that is still very short. This was only the third meeting between the two programs and Houston's first trip to Boulder; the Cougars had won 36-20 at home in September 2025. Colorado now leads 2-1.
The math remains simple: to reach the six wins required for a bowl, Colorado must win at Cincinnati on Saturday, November 21, then beat UCF at Folsom Field on Saturday, November 28. One loss, and the season ends with a losing record, the third in four years under Sanders. Wilson's health, after he finished the game at less than full strength, is the other unknown.
For Houston, the cost is immediate. Ranked No. 14 by the College Football Playoff committee, Willie Fritz's Cougars had lost only at Texas Tech and at Utah, and they needed to win out to hope for more. They fall to 7-3, 4-3 in the Big 12, with a trip to West Virginia on Saturday, November 21, followed by a home game against Baylor on Saturday, November 28. With three conference losses, the Big 12 title game in Arlington is slipping away as well. The question this game raises is a defensive one: can a unit that allows four touchdowns of more than 30 yards to an offense that had not passed 27 points in five games still matter in November?
At the final whistle, part of the crowd came down onto the Folsom Field turf to celebrate with the players, just as it had after Kansas State. “The way they take the field at the conclusion of the game is like we just won the Super Bowl,” said Sanders, who praised a young fan base that has stayed loyal through the criticism. “Kids love kids. Kids are on the field playing. Kids are in the stands supporting.”
For a program that was playing for its season, the picture sums up where things stand: Colorado still has two games to win, but it now has a reason to believe it can.
