Colorado football: New Buffs look like old Buffs in collapse against ...

In a lifetime of football, much of it playing at the highest level, Deion Sanders has seen just about everything.

Friday was something new for Colorado’s first-year head coach, but all too painfully familiar to the program that he’s trying to revive.

Shedeur Sanders had a monster night, Travis Hunter returned and the CU Buffs finally got the fast start they have been seeking. But in the end, the new-look Buffs conjured up memories of the past they are striving to leave behind.

Rallying from a four-touchdown deficit, Stanford shocked CU, 46-43, in double overtime in front of another sold-out crowd at Folsom Field.

After Shedeur Sanders threw an interception to start the second overtime, Joshua Karty’s 31-yard field goal for the Cardinal completed the largest comeback in Stanford history and the largest collapse in CU history.

“I’ve never been in one of these,” Coach Prime said. “From youth on, I don’t remember being up 29-0 and losing a football game. I really don’t. This is a little tough for me.”

Tough for Sanders and brutal for a CU fan base that has seen this before.

In 2010, the Buffs led 45-17 at Kansas before losing 52-45. And in 2018, they led 31-3 against Oregon State before losing 41-34 in overtime. Both of those games cost CU bowl game opportunities and contributed to head coaches losing their jobs.

Sanders, just seven games into his tenure at CU, certainly isn’t going to lose his job over this one. But, he might lose his mind over the way his team coughed up a game it was dominating early.

CU (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) had sputtered early in games most of the season, but flipped the script Friday night. Shedeur Sanders, who wound up throwing for 400 yards and five touchdowns, led the Buffs to a 29-0 lead in the first 27 minutes. Hunter, back after missing three games with injury, caught 13 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns.

“Started off the game wonderfully,” coach Sanders said. “Finally put it together in the first half like I desired, like we desired, like our players desired, and the fans.”

The Buffs were on the verge of adding to the lead late in the half after Stanford shanked a punt. CU took over at the Stanford 39-yard line with 2 minutes, 2 seconds to play in the first half – plenty of time to tack on another touchdown.

Instead, they had back-to-back penalties and wound up settling for a 46-yard field goal attempt from Alejandro Mata, and he missed.

For all the good CU had done in the first 27 minutes, those last three minutes of the half sparked concern in coach Sanders.

“I just didn’t like how I felt going in at halftime,” he said. “We come back out and here comes the complacency. Here comes that team that I can’t stand, that you can’t stand, that you can’t understand how in the world that happens to us, but it did.”

CU’s offense, which essentially couldn’t be stopped in the first half, couldn’t get anything going in the second. And the Stanford offense, which was horrendous before intermission, was downright explosive after.

Stanford had zero points in six first half possessions and then scored on all eight of its possessions (six touchdowns, two field goals) after the break.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it,” coach Sanders.

Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels finished the game with 396 yards and four touchdowns through the air. After throwing for just 32 yards in the first half, he threw for 364 and all four touchdowns in the second.

Daniels’ favorite target was Elic Ayomanor, who finished with 13 catches for a remarkable 294 yards – the most ever by a CU opponent – and three touchdowns. He didn’t catch a pass in the first half.

“We saw Elic Ayomanor really discover that he can be a great player at this level,” Stanford head coach Troy Taylor said. “We knew it all along. But it’s most important for the individual, and so he was pretty spectacular.”

As bad as the defense was, however, the sudden struggle of the offense after intermission was puzzling. After 324 first-half yards, the Buffs had 208 in the second half.

“It was definitely frustrating because, like I say, it was one or two players away from really hitting explosive plays, from doing the right things each on every drive we had,” Shedeur Sanders said. “When we look at the film and what I noticed on the field is just all 11 players got to do their job and that’s it. That stuff is gonna catch up when it catches up and it caught up to us today.”

Whether or not this loss costs the Buffs a chance at a bowl game remains to be seen, but that certainly wasn’t on Shedeur’s mind Friday night.

“I’m not even thinking that far yet,” he said. “I’ve got to at least feel this one first.”

There’s no question the Buffs are going to feel this one, but Coach Prime said they’ve got to figure out a way to move past it in a hurry.

“You have no choice but to go forward,” he said. “That’s life.  This ain’t the only thing that’s going on in life. I mean, all you guys are dealing with something but you still moving, you still progressing, you still going forward. We’ve got to do the same darn thing.

“We didn’t expect that. There’s a lot of things that goes on in life that’s unexpected and this was one of them. … Let’s go. We can’t sit down having a pity party. Y’all don’t feel bad for us. Some of you all are ecstatic about what transpired today and I know that, but that’s cool. We’re gonna take this one on the chin because we deserve it.”