For the first time in 385 days, the Colorado Buffaloes won a conference game.
To commemorate the end of a torturous drought, Colorado’s student body flooded Folsom Field in Halloween costumes, celebrating the Buffaloes’ 27-24 overtime win over Kansas State. The white goalposts came down to the grass immediately in the postgame haze of a dramatic win over a 4-4 Wildcats team.
That’s how dire things were in Boulder. But rather than trudging off the field with yet another loss, Smurfs, Minions, ninja turtles and even Mario and Luigi went nuts at midfield.
“God bless the fan base,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said afterward. “Still showed up.”
🚨 COLORADO STORMS THE FIELD AFTER BEATING KANSAS STATE
Buffs first Big 12 win in OVER A YEAR 🦬 pic.twitter.com/ZHqjp6GjQA
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 31, 2026
The win over Kansas State snapped a nine-game conference losing streak dating back to October 2025. The Buffaloes finished 1-8 in Big 12 play last year and started this season 0-4 before Saturday’s overtime win moved them to 3-5 overall.
Sanders swatted aside the theory that his team was desperate to win a Big 12 game for the first time in over a year.
“It ain’t no desperation. It may be to you, but it’s not desperation to them,” he said. “The main thing I told them to do is go out there and have fun today. It’s impossible to have fun when you’re getting your butt kicked, right?”
Quarterback Isaac Wilson threw a game-winning 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Williams in overtime to seal the win after the Buffaloes held Kansas State to a field goal on the Wildcats’ overtime possession.
Up 21-14 with under a minute left in the fourth quarter, Colorado couldn’t keep Kansas State from piecing together a tight six-play, 54-yard touchdown drive that culminated with two seconds left on the clock. After Kansas State coach Collin Klein initially kept the offense out on the field to go for the 2-point conversion and the win, a Colorado timeout changed Klein’s mind, and the Wildcats kicked the extra point to send the game into overtime.
“Unbelievable,” Sanders said. “But we got it done.”
Sanders said one of his many messages to his team every day is about “flushing the last play” and moving on to the next.
“I’m happy because they must have showed enough fight that the opposition didn’t end up going for two,” Sanders said.
Costumed Colorado fans sprint onto the field as the game ends. (David Zalubowski / AP)
The Buffaloes had their most productive rushing game of the Sanders era, running for 222 yards as a team. When asked to describe how crucial it was for his program to get into the win column, Sanders turned the question around and said coaches and players don’t read into what is being written or said about them.
”You’ve got to understand: We don’t subscribe to your channels and your stations and what you all think is (all) that like you’re preaching the gospel,” Sanders said. “Our kids ain’t built like that.”
Saturday was Sanders’ first public appearance since Colorado quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis suffered a medical episode at the Colorado football facility on Wednesday. Lewis, who started Colorado’s first four games, was benched in the loss at Baylor on Sept. 26.
“Praying for Ju,” Sanders said.
