The trash came raining down Saturday at Texas Tech.
Water bottles. Tortillas. A vape. A beer bottle.
Much of it ended up on the sideline of the Colorado Buffaloes before they beat Tech, 41-27, in another big road win for one of the most upstart teams in college football. The Buffs (7-2) now control their own destiny in their bid to win the Big 12 Conference championship.
“They were throwing everything but my mama at me,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said afterward.
Sanders shrugged it off for the most part, noting that he once played pro baseball and football, where the crowd sometimes had thrown batteries onto the field. Sanders also knew that Tech fans like to throw tortillas on the field, since that’s been a long-time tradition at games in Lubbock.
“But when they start throwing the water bottles and those other objects, that’s when you’ve got to alarm the officials, and say, `OK now, tortillas are one thing, but water bottles are another thing,’” Sanders said. “That’s getting a little crazy.”
Texas Tech coach said it was ‘taking it too far’
Early in the fourth quarter, Tech coach Joey McGuire even took the microphone to address the home crowd of 60,229.
“Stop throwing stuff on the field!” McGuire told them early in the fourth quarter.
Afterward, he discussed what was recovered on the field.
“I got a vape brought over to me. I got a water bottle brought over to me. I got a beer bottle brought over to me,” McGuire said. “It’s great with tortillas and everything like that, but we got really lucky that we didn’t get a 15-yard penalty.”
He said Tech fans are “absolutely incredible, but when you get to that point, you know, that’s taking it too far.”
Yet Colorado didn’t seem to mind too much. Actually, they like such hostility. This was the Buffs’ fourth straight win on the road. And it put them in prime position to make a run for the berth in the new 12-team College Football Playoff.
Why Colorado controls its own destiny
If they win their final three regular-season games against Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State, the Buffaloes will play for the Big 12 championship on Dec. 7 in Arlington, Texas. A win there would vault them into the 12-team playoff just two years after Sanders was hired to revive a Colorado program that finished 1-11 in 2022.
The Buffs had entered Saturday’s game tied for second place with Iowa State with a 4-1 record in league play. But after Iowa State lost at Kansas Saturday, 45-36, the Buffs have a clear path to the Big 12 title if they win out. BYU started the day alone atop the Big 12 standings at 5-0 in Big 12 play.
“We don’t change with the stakes,” Deion Sanders said when asked about being in sole possession of second place in the Big 12. “You guys (in the news media) change with the stakes. We don’t change with the stakes. What we’re doing right now, we planned on it.”
Shedeur Sanders autographed a tortilla
“I had to sign one,” he said. “They kept throwing them at me, so I had to.”
Shedeur Sanders helped the Buffs climb out of a 13-0 deficit in the first quarter and finished with 30-of-43 passing for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Despite the hailstorm of debris from the crowd, he still took time to accommodate fan requests for photos after the game.
“They excited to see us in person,” Shedeur Sanders said. “I think this is the last year me, Travis (Hunter), Shilo (Sanders) and a lot of players are able to be traveling around and interact with a lot of these college kids or young kids in general. It’s kind of cherish the moment, understand it’s game by game and show love to the fans because that could have been the last time ever seeing us and we always want to leave a great impression.”
How did Travis Hunter improve his Heisman Trophy campaign?
Hunter, Colorado’s two-way star at receiver and cornerback, had nine catches for 99 yards and a 24-yard touchdown catch as a receiver. He also threw a key block that led to Colorado’s first touchdown of the game. On defense, he came down with another freakish interception, but it was nullified because of an offsides penalty in the second quarter.
He is believed to have surpassed 160 plays in the game, setting a new CU record, according to the university, which said the final number will be official next week after further review. Colorado said the initial numbers show him playing 86-of-87 plays on defense, all 70 on offense and at least six on special teams, giving him 156 from scrimmage and at least 162 overall counting special teams. His school records are 149 plays from scrimmage and 160 overall plays.
Colorado plays at home against Utah next week in a Big Noon game on Fox.
But will the Buffs have a comedown in Boulder after playing so well in enemy territory?
Two of their final three regular-season games are home, with the lone road game coming at Kansas Nov. 23
“If we walk into the stadium and they don’t hate us, we don’t feel right,” Colorado safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig said afterward. “We used to it.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com