An embarrassing loss at Utah a week ago was seemingly the low point for head coach Deion Sanders and the 2025 Colorado football team.
On Saturday night, the Buffaloes sunk even deeper.
Facing a gut-check moment after the rout in Salt Lake City, the Buffs were crushed by Arizona on Saturday, 52-17, at Folsom Field.
In front of the smallest crowd of the Deion Sanders era at Folsom (48,223), CU fell behind 7-0 on the third play, 17-0 less than eight minutes into the game, and 38-7 at halftime.
A week ago, the Buffs were humiliated at Utah, 53-7. This is the first time since the last three games of the 2022 season — before Sanders was hired — that the Buffs have given up at least 50 points in consecutive games.
CU also had a season-high five turnovers, as well as a season-high 13 penalties for 105 yards.
All that to an Arizona team that had lost five in a row on the road.
At this point, however, it doesn’t seem to matter where the Buffs (3-6, 1-5 Big 12) play. Coming off the loss at Utah, the Buffs looked checked out against the Wildcats (5-3, 2-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Turning to five-star freshman quarterback JuJu Lewis provided a brief spark, but that move didn’t occur until the Buffs trailed 45-7 with 12 minutes to play in the third quarter.
Lewis finished 9 for 17 for 121 yards and his first career touchdown pass before departing with an injury in the final minutes.
CU’s starting quarterback, Kaidon Salter, who has had a roller-coaster season, was dreadful for the second week in a row, completing 11 of 15 passes for 49 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a fumble.
Both of Salter’s turnovers were back-breakers, as Arizona and its quarterback, Noah Fifita, had no trouble taking advantage.
Fifita finished the game 11-for-19 passing for 213 yards and four touchdowns, including a 57-yard pass to Tre Spivey on the third play of the game.
Three plays after a field goal that made it 10-0, Arizona’s Chase Kennedy sacked Salter and forced a fumble that the Wildcats recovered at the CU 12-yard line. On the next play, Fifita hit Chris Hunter for a 12-yard TD pass and a 17-0 lead.
Salter and the Buffs responded with an impressive 17-play, 75-yard drive that chewed 7 minutes, 40 seconds off the clock. Salter capped that drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Omarion Miller that cut the deficit to 17-7 and stopped the bleeding with 14:28 to play in the second quarter.
Arizona re-opened the wound four plays later when Fifita found Gio Richardson wide open for a 60-yard touchdown pass.
About seven minutes later, Salter was intercepted by Dalton Johnson, who returned it 50 yards to the CU 8. The Wildcats’ Javin Whatley scored on a 13-yard run two plays later.
Just before the half, Arizona tacked on another score, as Fifita found Whatley wide open in the back of the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown. That gave the Wildcats a 38-7 lead at intermission.
Ryan Staub replaced Salter just before the half, but threw interceptions on both of his pass attempts spilling into the third quarter. The second, by Ayden Garnes, was returned 59 yards to the Buffs’ 17-yard line.
Two plays later, Ismail Mahdi scored on a 7-yard run to give the Wildcats a 45-7 lead.
Lewis replaced Staub to a chorus of cheers from the remaining fans, and he threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Miller. That cut the deficit to 45-14, but Arizona responded again with a 68-yard run by Mahdi that set up a Kedrick Reescano 1-yard touchdown run.
The Buffs’ Alejandro Mata capped the scoring with a 31-yard field goal with 2:04 to play.
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