Shedeur Sanders showed love to offensive line while Travis Hunter put on a clinic

Buffs took care of business against Rams before Big 12 opener

Cris Tiller / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Travis Hunter took the opportunity to leave his “I AM HIM” mark on the game, letting the Colorado State Rams know he had not forgotten about being knocked out of the game last season. The Rams made several mistakes in this game that coach Jay Norvell will ask his team about when they watch film. 

The first one was CSU quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi giving Travis Hunter “the short” gesture down 14-3 before the half while scrambling to the sideline. Fowler-Nicolosi must have forgotten that college football’s most dynamic athlete didn’t forget the gesture when he intercepted his pass with the Rams driving down the field late in the third quarter. Hunter went on to get his second touchdown of the game from Shedeur Sanders on a deep right corner route that put him at 100 yards for the day.  

Things appeared to be a bit chippy on the field between these two teams who won’t play one another until 2029. Hunter caught his second touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, beating Colorado State’s Herny Blackburn who threw a punch while trying to knock the ball out of his hands. Hunter wasn’t finished there and showed no quit in this game even when the Buffs had the victory well in hand.  

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Sheduer Sanders was kept pretty clean in this game and was only sacked once and was targeted by the Rams defensive players. Given the atmosphere with CSU, the Buffs had extra motivation to drive down the field and score the first touchdown of the game. CU also showed a semblance of the rushing attack against the Rams, who allowed Texas to rumble down the field for 190 rushing yards in week one. Northern Colorado also got off on the Rams defense for 107 yards on the ground. The over/under before the game put the Buffs somewhere in the middle.  Well, they rushed the ball 19 times for 109 yards, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. 

Sanders threw the ball 49 times completing 36 of his passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns. The Buffs did make some changes to the offensive line with Justin Mayers being out of the starting lineup, along with moving Phillip Houston to right tackle and Tyler Brown to left guard. It was a move Buffs fans can be excited about when it comes to running the ball. They showed they had a pulse and could zone block and get to the second level to block the opposing team's defensive linebackers. The offensive line got some much-needed love from their quarterback, who had thrown them under the bus after the loss to Nebraska. Sanders’ great gesture of bringing the Buffs offensive line to the postgame press conference was perfect timing.      

The Buffs head into Big 12 conference play next week against Baylor at home. It’s a nice factor for CU’s offense to roll into that game with more momentum running the ball, which we will see them do. However, Coach Prime is going to ride the rest of this season on the arm of Shedeur Sanders and more heroic catches by Travis Hunter.