Even though the losses had piled up and any dreams of competing for the Big 12 were long gone, it had felt all season like Colorado was close to being something more than its record showed. Even in four previous defeats before Saturday night, the Buffs had been mostly competitive. A seven-point loss to Georgia Tech, a three-point loss to BYU, and a 14-point loss to TCU, which was a tie game in the fourth quarter.
They were soundly beaten by Houston on the road in September, but Colorado seemed to be on the precipice of a breakthrough. Proof seemed to be evident two weeks ago when the Buffaloes knocked off Iowa State.
But any lingering hope for this season came crashing down with an embarrassing dose of reality in Salt Lake City. Colorado didn't just lose to Utah on Saturday night. They got embarrassed and outclassed.
Utah took two plays to go 75 yards and get into the endzone on its opening drive. It was all downhill from there. By halftime, the Utes led 43-0 and Colorado had produced a staggering -18 yards of total offense. Luckily for Coach Prime and his team, Kyle Whittingham called off the dogs in the second half and cruised to a 53-7 victory. They could have named their score.
If it weren't for the logos on the helmets, anyone tuning in would have assumed Utah was playing an FCS opponent. That's how big a mismatch it was, particularly at the line of scrimmage. Utah gained 422 yards rushing and held Colorado to just 38. It was a mismatch, a bludgeoning, and perhaps the worst loss of Deion Sanders' career.
"This is bad," Sanders said in the postgame. "This is probably the worst beating I've ever had except for when my momma whooped me when I was a kid."
Coach Prime calls Utah loss the 'worst beating I've ever had.'
It's tough to see how Colorado moves forward from here. There are still four regular-season games left. If the team that traveled to Salt Lake is the team we see the rest of the season, then they won't win another game.
To reach bowl eligibility, the Buffs have to win three of their remaining four regular-season games against a schedule that features Arizona, at West Virginia, Arizona State, and at Kansas State. It's not impossible, but it looks increasingly unlikely. Sanders couldn't even bring himself to think about the prospect of a bowl game.
"We ain't thinking about no bowl right now," Sanders said. "We're thinking about this moment. Let's grade this moment, let's figure out why this happened, and let's make sure we caution that it don't happen again."
Changes seem inevitable in Boulder following the loss to Utah. You can't lose games like that, particularly to drop to 3-5 on the season, and expect that everything is going to be fine and remain the same. Coach Prime was noticeably angry with DC Robert Livingston throughout the game. When asked about what he said to Livingston, Sanders would only describe it as "not pleasant."
But it was far from just a defensive failure on Saturday night. Colorado managed just 140 yards of total offense to continue a trend of offensive struggles that have put OC Pat Shurmur in the crosshairs of fan vitriol. Liberty transfer QB Kaidon Salter attempted 22 passes and mustered only 37 yards through the air.
It was a failure on offense, defense, and special teams. It was also a failure by the coaching staff, with an extra week to prepare, to get the team prepared to play this game. There's got to be some soul-searching, and likely fundamental changes, that take place in Boulder as a result.