Colorado Buffaloes beat Baylor in an overtime thriller after a Hail Mary touchdown in the final seconds

CNN
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Colorado defeated the Baylor Bears 38-31 in a thrilling game on Saturday after a 43-yard Hail Mary touchdown by the Buffaloes in the final seconds of regulation forced overtime.

Colorado received the ball with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter and trailed Baylor 31-24 after a back-and-forth game at Folsom Field.

The Buffaloes managed to advance to the Bears' 43-yard line with two seconds left before quarterback Shedeur Sanders – son of head coach and NFL Hall of Famer Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders – completed a Hail Mary touchdown pass to LaJohntay Wester as time expired, tying the score with the extra point and sending the game into overtime.

Colorado scored first in overtime to take the lead, with Micah Welch running the ball in from a yard out. And Baylor needed a touchdown to tie the game. It looked like it was going to score a point of its own when Colorado's Travis Hunter took the ball from Bears running back Dominic Richardson at the goal line.

“Shedeur told me to go out and get the ball,” Hunter, 21, said afterward. “So I told him, 'I got you,' and I kept my word. I knew I had to tackle. I knew they were coming at me. They didn't think I could tackle, so I had to show them.”

Fans stormed the field to celebrate the win, but a review by the referees still had to be done to decide if the game-winning fumble was the correct call. After the review, the call stood and the celebrations began in earnest.

It is probably the most dramatic victory of Sanders' time in Colorado – he is entering his second season with the Buffaloes – as it brings the team to 3-1 on the season.

“Great, great, great, great win,” said “Coach Prime” in his post-game press conference. “The young men were resilient. They never gave up. They never surrendered. The coaches were still inspired.”

“I mean, right up until the end, they were still calling things and planning things… I don't like how it went, but I love the results. I think we're so much better than what we show you sometimes. We keep showing you glimpses of the running game. We show you glimpses of how we play hard on defense. We show you we can throw the ball anywhere, and then we just hesitate for a series or two and stupidly give up something. But I'm happy.”

It was a thrilling end to an exciting game in Boulder, Colorado, after the Buffaloes fell behind 24-10 midway through the second quarter.

But a 58-yard touchdown pass from Sanders to Omarion Miller before halftime narrowed the Bears' lead and Colorado tied it in the third quarter.

Baylor regained its seven-point lead midway through the fourth quarter after a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hal Presley.

And the outcome seemed to be decided when Colorado had to punt from its own end zone after two sacks of Sanders, a punt that Baylor returned to the Buffaloes' 26-yard line. They were ready for a 46-yard field goal that would have tied the game at two points with just over two minutes remaining, but the kick went wide and Colorado stayed in the game.

With 2:16 left, Sanders helped orchestrate a magical drive that culminated in overtime after Wester's Hail Mary touchdown.

“I knew I was going to get a lot of pressure,” Sanders, 22, said afterward. “So I was like, 'OK, cool. Let's go for it.' We put Travis (Hunter) in the back because he was going to get all the attention, and LaJohntay was out there.

“They're not going to believe we're throwing the ball to him. So I ran to the left, everybody went to the middle of the end zone and I just trusted in God. I just threw the ball to God and God answered my prayer.”

Sanders finished the game completing 25 of 41 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns, but was also sacked eight times. Hunter, meanwhile, caught seven passes for 130 yards – his fifth consecutive 100-yard game – and forced the game-winning fumble in overtime.