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.”
This is *not* going well for Deion Sanders and Colorado. Yikes… pic.twitter.com/5B8CAaeZbR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 26, 2025
Here’s a look at the official first-half team stats:
COLORADO
UTAH
First downs
3
16
Total yards
-18
398
Passing yards
23
138
Rushing yards
-41
260
Yards per rush
-2.4
8.4
Time of possession
11:32
18:28
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:
Without its starting QB, Utah is beating Colorado 40-0 in the first half. Holy mercy.
I covered an Oklahoma-Missouri game that was 49-0 at halftime and ended 77-0. You can guess who was on either side of that score.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) October 26, 2025
what halftime speech would you give colorado rn pic.twitter.com/2UzUmtoQBx
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) October 26, 2025
Can you accuse a team of running up the score before halftime? Utah called time out, blocked a punt and tacked on a field goal – Utah 43-0 over Coach Prime’s Colorado at half. Just shockingly bad. Didn’t see this coming, not after CU’s big win over Iowa State and a bye.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 26, 2025
Halftime for Utah-Colorado. Utah’s punter has more pass yards than Colorado’s starting QB, for starters. Buffs finish with -18 yards. pic.twitter.com/j2Nsg33srE
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) October 26, 2025
if there’s a word for whatever utah is doing to colorado i think it is untranslatable into english
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) October 26, 2025
Less than ideal situation for the Buffs pic.twitter.com/gM4jfMdun0
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 26, 2025
Colorado vs. Utah halftime update pic.twitter.com/LXpFUoAqjk
— JaguarGator9 (@JaguarGator9NFL) October 26, 2025
Meanwhile in Utah …
Total yards:
Utah: 386
Colorado: -8
Score:
Utah 40
Colorado 0
2:08 left … in the second quarter. pic.twitter.com/KSfKhpb7MS
— Adam Thompson (@AdamTSports) October 26, 2025
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