It’s not clear how long this will go on before coach Deion Sanders switches quarterbacks. Running back Simeon Price, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, took off on a 38-yard touchdown run to cap a 93-yard drive for the Buffaloes. The score cut Houston’s lead to after Staub seemed to catch fire during this two-minute drill, much like he did to end the first half last week in a 31-7 win against Delaware. The ball popped loose from him short of the end zone but was recovered by tight end Zach Atkins for a Colorado touchdown with 26 seconds left in the first half. That makes Sanchez 4-for-4 on field-goal tries for the night as Colorado’s defense once again bent but didn’t break.
Anyone think Kiffin will make the trip over from Baton Rouge to watch his former team? Indiana gets two touchdown passes from Mendoza and advances. But going undefeated didn’t matter for Oregon in last season’s Rose Bowl, and Indiana must lock in for an opponent that is used to the biggest of stages. The Hoosiers are AP No. 1 for the first time and riding high from their first outright Big Ten title since 1945. Even though Oregon has CFP experience, Texas Tech should be able to ride Shiel Wood’s defense and just enough offense to get easymarkets broker the W.
Houston handles Colorado, drops Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes to 1-2: Highlights
Deion Sanders’ team has scored 21 points in the third quarter after being held to 10 points in the first half. On a fourth-and-9, Red Raiders quarterback Behren Morton was swarmed and eventually brought down by the Buffs, though the officials threw a flag for what they determined to be a targeting penalty on Colorado. A bit of a chaotic sequence ends a Texas Tech drives and gives Colorado the ball back early in the fourth quarter with an 11-point lead. Immediately after a Tahj Brooks 17-yard run appeared to get the Red Raiders’ drive going, Behren Morton was hit from behind by Buffs defensive end BJ Green, who knocked the ball loose. As his team tries to mount a furious comeback, Tahj Brooks just made some history.
TCU can somewhat quietly finish with consecutive nine-win seasons. A road-like win against TCU would mean USC’s first 10-win season since 2022, and a likely top-15 finish. They also will be playing just 70 miles from campus and will have a significant crowd advantage, especially against a Coastal Carolina program going through a coaching change after Tim Beck’s firing. Coach Sonny Cumbie’s Bulldogs quietly rebounded nicely this fall, ensuring their first winning season since 2019. Ultimately, location and motivation swing the arrow toward Houston, which gets its 10th win and evens the all-time series with LSU at 2-2. San Diego State returns to the same stadium where it lost its regular-season finale to New Mexico, costing itself a shot at the Mountain West title game.
Jalin Conyers TD gets Texas Tech on the board
Garcia has now made all 14 field goals he has attempted this season. From there, though, the Colorado defense does a nice job of limiting the damage, with a BJ Green II dropping Morton for an 8-yard loss on a second down. Texas Tech got inside the red zone on a 27-yard pass from Behren Morton to Coy Eakin on a crossing route, with many of the yards coming after the catch. So far, Shedeur Sanders has completed only three of his seven passes for 27 yards. Isaiah Augustave got a 13-yard run to give the Buffs a first down, but the offense sputters from there, with Shedeur Sanders getting sacked for a loss of 10 yards on second down.
Complete bowl season schedule
According to a forecast from The Weather Channel, it will be sunny and clear in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday, with a high temperature of 67 degrees and winds blowing WSW at 10 to 20 miles per hour. “Travis gets my vote,” he said. “Travis is the best player in college football. Texas Tech takes over at its own 47-yard line after a 27-yard punt from Mark Vassett. What has been an explosive Buffs offense for so much of the season has had trouble getting much of anything going so far today against Texas Tech.
With an Alejandro Mata extra point, Colorado leads with 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Right after Texas Tech gives up the lead, it regains it. Colorado answers Texas Tech’s go-ahead touchdown drive with a go-ahead touchdown drive of its own. We’ve got an exciting, back-and-forth game on our hands.
End of third quarter: Colorado 31, Texas Tech 20
- Louisville’s last trip to South Florida brought its best moment of the season, a win against then-No.
- It nearly turned out worse for the Red Raiders, with Behren Morton getting picked off by Travis Hunter on an acrobatic play in which he high-pointed the ball perfectly, but it was negated by an offsides call on the Buffs.
- The Ducks should finally be healthy again at wide receiver, and quarterback Dante Moore played very well down the stretch.
- Two of the nation’s best defenses will go at it in Atlanta with a spot in the national championship game on the line.
- Eventually, that involved fans throwing more than their customary tortillas on the field.
The Buffs will face a tough running back for Houston, Dean Connors, who is averaging 91 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry. He barely played except for the final regular season game of 2023, when Shedeur was injured. Colorado quarterback Ryan Staub warmed up with the first-team offensive line about 30 minutes before the game. Ryan Staub indeed did start the game for Colorado at quarterback, but his first drive petered out when he underthrew a pass over the middle on third down and 12 from the Houston 47-yard line. A Colorado defender apparently fell on his leg, leading to a stoppage in play as he was helped onto the cart and taken off the field.
Texas Tech’s slim hopes of a comeback win have now vanished. After punting on their first four drives, the Buffs got points on six of their next seven possessions, four of which ended with touchdowns. Interestingly, Hunter did not record any statistics on defense, though he had a leaping, acrobatic interception negated due to an offsides penalty. The Red Raiders, at 6-3 entering the matchup, had the best record of any team remaining on Colorado’s schedule. Buy Kentucky football tickets this season with StubHub
Texas Tech misses 53-yard FG as time expires
The Cougars were in a similar situation last year after coach Jake Dickert’s departure and lost the Holiday Bowl. But Washington State last week was rocked by the departure of coach Jimmy Rogers to Iowa State after only one year on the Palouse. Expect a big performance from quarterback CJ Bailey and the NC State offense. Expect some points in this one, as the two defenses rank 105th (Arkansas State) and 109th (Missouri State) in SP+.
Ryan Staub starts game, leads stalled drive
After falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter, the Colorado offense came alive and its defense made timely plays to lead the Buffs to a victory against Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. In the days and weeks after Colorado football achieved bowl eligibility with a win against Cincinnati, Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders insisted his team wasn’t done. The Wildcats snap a four-game losing streak in dominant fashion as they try to close the regular season with three straight wins and ensure a bowl berth is awaiting them for the ninth consecutive year. ESPN play-by-play broadcaster Anish Shroff will call the game along with former Houston quarterback Andre Ware, the 1989 Heisman Trophy winner. He was listed as Colorado’s third-string quarterback as recently as last week but was put in the game on a tryout basis of sorts last week vs. Delaware with 45 seconds left before halftime. Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita has seen it all during his career, and can secure the team’s second 10-win season in three years — and just the fifth in team history — with a victory in San Diego.
- The Red Raiders go 66 yards in nine plays, capped off by a Tahj Brooks 2-yard rushing touchdown on fourth-and-1.
- The Hurricanes force a late takeaway and get out of Aggieland with a win.
- Texas Tech’s slim hopes of a comeback win have now vanished.
- Few players have transformed an entire program — the way it’s viewed, the way it sees itself — as much as Pavia at Vandy the past two seasons.
- America’s favorite newer bowl game features a really fun matchup for line-of-scrimmage enthusiasts.
My lean is New Mexico, but Fleck is excellent in bowls, going 6-0 at Minnesota with a Rate Bowl victory in 2021. They will, thanks to a last-minute field goal from the “Tokyo Toe,” Kansei Matsuzawa. The Hilltoppers have been a bit erratic on offense but can lean on their defense in this one. But Louisville should be engaged enough to finish things with a win. The Rockets’ path to success is through their defense, which ranks fourth nationally in points allowed (12.2 ppg).
For the first time in the brief life of the Fenway Bowl, two teams based in the Northeast will meet at the iconic baseball venue. Penn State made a midseason coaching change, while Swinney has hinted at significant adjustments for the way his program operates. Neither team entered the 2025 season expecting to finish it out in a baseball stadium in the Bronx, although at least Dabo Swinney is a Yankees fan.
Houston leads at halftime 16-14
Colorado is forced to punt after taking over possession, but the Buffs made Texas Tech burn two of its three timeouts. Facing the risk of their 14-point deficit getting cut in half, Brooks was dropped for a 3-yard loss by LaVonta Bentley and Amari McNeill. Aided by some strong running from Tahj Brooks and a series of penalties — some more dubious than others —the Red Raiders got all the way to the Colorado 1-yard line, where they had a fourth-and-goal. An onside kick is recovered by Colorado, though a delay-of-game penalty pushes the Buffs back to the Texas Tech 45. If it manages to get a touchdown, though, will it opt to go for two? After recovering the onside kick, Colorado goes three-and-out, with Texas Tech burning its final timeout and the two-minute warning passing.
BYU felt it had a playoff-worthy profile, while Georgia Tech seemingly had a CFP path before losing three of its final four regular-season games. FIU won its final four games, including a triumph over Jacksonville State, to secure bowl eligibility under first-year coach Willie Simmons, who won the Celebration Bowl in 2023 at Florida A&M. The best unit on the field is Western Michigan’s defense, as first-year coordinator Chris O’Leary has overseen a group that ranks 14th nationally in points allowed and 15th in yards allowed.
Quarterback Ryan Staub led his team downfield with passes of 36 and 25 yards before scrambling for 19 yards to the goal line and nearly scoring a touchdown to end the first half. Sanchez this time hit from 49 yards, his fifth field goal of the game. Louisiana Tech’s offense has had a few no-shows this season, but scored a total of 76 points in its past two games and has a deep and balanced rushing contingent with four ball carriers eclipsing 450 yards. To be fair, Miami won this bowl game last year, and coach Chuck Martin’s teams are always at the line of scrimmage. UConn aims for its second straight win in the game, and its first 10-win season, and will be led by interim coach Gordon Sammis, the team’s offensive coordinator, following Jim Mora’s departure to Colorado State.
The kick capped a 10-play drive that went 63 yards after starting at Houston’s own 3-yard line. A big question hovering over him is how long coach Deion Sanders will stick with him if he fails to march the team downfield. Running back Dean Connors capped the five-play, 79-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. But he’s since led his team downfield for touchdowns on their final two series of the second quarter. Colorado has had only nine plays for minus-5 yards in the second half.
