Colorado Preview
Unlike the Sun Devils, the Buffaloes are shut out of the postseason but will play for pride on senior night in Boulder, trying to notch their second Big 12 win this year. Here’s a closer look at Colorado, which will be hosting ASU on Saturday night.
Colorado Offense
To replace 2024 Big-12 Offensive Player of the Year Shedeur Sanders, Colorado dipped into the Transfer Portal and signed one of the nation’s most accomplished QBs in Kaidon Salter, who in four years with Liberty compiled nearly 6,000 passing yards, more than 2,000 rushing yards, and 77 combined touchdowns.
However, the 2025 season has not been kind to Salter, as he started eight of the first nine games of the season and totaled 1,242 passing yards with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions, along with 293 net rushing yards and a team-high five rushing touchdowns.
Most recently, former five-star true freshman Julian Lewis has taken control of the QB1 spot as he earned his first career start in Colorado’s most recent game.
Though CU lost that game, Lewis was impressive in his starting debut, as he completed 22-of-35 passes for 299 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, though he was sacked seven times and lost 39 total yards in the game.
This weekend will mark Lewis’ second career collegiate start, uniquely giving ASU its second consecutive true freshman opposing starting quarterback.
One element of Lewis’ freshman season that requires some head shaking is the fact that with three game appearances for Lewis thus far and two games remaining on the schedule, it is possible that he could burn his redshirt season by just one game.
As has been the case since Deion Sanders took over as head coach at Colorado in 2023, the run game is only lightly used in the Buffalo offense, with Micah Welch and Dallan Hayden as the most frequently used rushers.
On the year, Welch has 81 carries for 313 yards with two scores along with 10 catches for 38 yards, while Hayden has posted 45 carries for 195 yards along with three receptions for 19 yards.
Welch’s season rushing high is 67 yards, which he achieved in back-to-back games in late September, but he hasn’t exceeded 32 net rushing yards in any of the team’s last four games, and in two of the last three games, he’s had single-digit rushing yardage.
Hayden had a season-best 61 yards on October 4 against TCU and posted 34 rushing yards in both of Colorado’s last two games.
Overall, Colorado has not had a 100-yard rusher at any point under Deion Sanders, as the team’s last runner to reach triple digits did so in November 2022.
At wide receiver, Omarion Miller has been the team’s most potent offensive performer, and he figures to be joined in the starting lineup by Joseph Williams and Sincere Brown, with Zach Atkins at tight end.
Miller is Colorado’s leading receiver with 34 receptions for 652 yards with seven touchdowns. He enters this week with momentum, as his two most recent outings have been his best of the season, as he caught five passes for 91 yards and a season high two touchdowns against Arizona on November 1, and then hauled in a season best 131 yards on six receptions with a score against West Virginia on November 8.
Williams is Colorado’s second-leading receiver, with 30 receptions for 450 yards and four scores. Brown has 316 yards on 18 receptions with two touchdowns.
Williams had eight catches for 128 yards with a touchdown in Colorado’s upset win over Iowa State on October 11 and has four other games with at least 50 receiving yards. Brown had 120 yards on four receptions with a touchdown in the opener against Delaware on September 6, but in conference play, he hasn’t posted more than 27 receiving yards in a single game.
At tight end, Atkins has hauled in 15 receptions for 93 yards on the year.
The Colorado offensive line figures to feature Jordan Seaton at left tackle, either Xavier Hill or Yahya Attia at left guard, Zarian McGill at center, Zy Chrisler at right guard, and Kareem Harden at right tackle.
Seaton, a former five-star recruit, was an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 pick in 2024 and was a 2025 Preseason All-Big 12 selection.
Colorado Offense Summary
Many eyes this Saturday will be on Lewis, the blue-chip true freshman in his second career collegiate start, as Colorado hopes he can ignite an offense that is a shell of what the Buffaloes produced in 2024.
Statistically, on a national level, Colorado ranks 19th in red zone offense (.923), an area of excellence that feels more like an anomaly than anything else. The Buffaloes also rank 79th in third-down conversions (.387), 88th in passing yards per game (209.7), are tied for 92nd in turnovers lost (15), and place 98th in time of possession.
The most notable offensive weaknesses are found in Colorado’s tie for 106th nationally in rushing offense (122.1), while the Buffaloes also rank 107th in scoring offense (22.0) and 110th in total offense (331.8) and are tied for 124th in team sacks allowed per game (3.10) and stand 132nd in tackles for loss allowed per game (7.90).
Colorado Defense
Operating primarily in a 4-2-5 alignment, the Colorado starting defensive line is slated to feature ends Keaten Wade and Arden Walker alongside tackles Anquin Barnes, Jr., and Brandon Davis-Swain.
Walker has posted 40 tackles this year, including 4.5 for loss and a share of the team lead of 2.5 sacks, along with six quarterback hurries, one safety, and one pass breakup. Wade has a team-best nine quarterback hurries and is tied with Walker for the team high of 2.5 sacks, while he also ranks second on the team with 7.0 TFLs as part of his 37 total tackles.
Barnes has posted 15 tackles on the year, while Davis-Swain also has 15 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks, along with three quarterback hurries, one forced fumble, and one pass breakup.
At linebacker, Jeremiah Brown and Shaun Myers are expected to start for the Buffaloes this weekend.
Brown has collected a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss and ranks second on the roster with 65 total tackles, adding 2.0 sacks and a fumble recovery. Myers has 25 tackles, including 4.0 for loss, with one forced fumble.
In the secondary, safeties Tawfiq Byard and John Slaughter are to be joined in the starting lineup by cornerbacks Ivan Yates and Teon Parks, along with nickel defensive back Preston Hodge.
Byard leads the team with 77 tackles, including 4.5 for loss with 0.5 sacks, along with four pass breakups, one interception, one quarterback hurry, and one forced fumble.
Hodge, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 performer in 2024, has been one of the most productive defensive backs in the country – at least in one statistical area – as he leads the Big-12 and ranks second nationally with 12 pass breakups. Only two FBS players at this point have 13 PBUs.
Overall, Hodge also has 39 tackles, including 3.0 for loss, with three quarterback hurries, an interception, and a fumble recovery.
Slaughter has 15 tackles with an interception, while Parks also has 15 tackles and one pass breakup. Yates has registered 13 tackles with three pass breakups on the year.
Colorado Defense Summary
On the season, Colorado has generally respectable defensive statistical standings, ranking 48th in third-down conversion defense (.363), 52nd in red zone defense (.821), and 56th in passing yards allowed per game (209.8).
The Buffaloes are also tied for 82nd in team tackles for loss per game (5.2) and are also tied for 85th in turnovers gained (11).
Areas of weakness are shown in Colorado’s ranking: tied for 106th in scoring defense (30.00), 118th in total defense (420.7), and tied for 121st in team sacks per game (1.20).
A striking area of major concern for Colorado that can significantly benefit ASU this Saturday is that Colorado ranks 130th in the country and is the poorest power conference team in the nation in terms of rush defense, allowing an average of 210.9 rushing yards per game.
Colorado Special Teams
Kicker Alejandro Mata hasn’t been used a great deal but has been highly efficient in his tries, as he’s made 8-of-9 field goal attempts with a long of 42, and his only miss was blocked. Mata earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12 accolades last season.
Damon Greaves averages 43.60 yards on 53 punts with a long of 67 and 13 downed inside the 20-yard line.
In the return game, Quentin Gibson is listed as the top kickoff returner with Quannell Farrakhan, Jr. as the top punt returner. Gibson averages 24.64 yards on 22 kickoff returns with a long of 46, while Farrakhan has three total yards on two punt returns this year.
Overall Summary
After a 2024 season that saw Colorado produce the Heisman Trophy winner, the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and both the Big-12 Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, a massive roster overhaul has resulted in a deeply forgettable season for head coach Deion Sanders and company, as the Buffaloes will not reach bowl eligibility as they stand at 3-7 with two games remaining.
The luster of the “Coach Prime” Era in Boulder that received seemingly unending media coverage in 2023 and 2024 seems to at a minimum temporarily faded and objectively, one must wonder what the long-term future holds for Sanders at Colorado.
However, for this game, ASU will play with conference championship game homes still possible, while Colorado will hope to play spoiler for that Sun Devil endeavor.
There are no major statistics or trends that favor the Buffaloes in this game, but, like late-season trips to Oregon State in the good ol’ Pac-12 days, this game could present an unsettling surprise with a nighttime kickoff, when gametime temperatures should be in the low-40s.
If ASU can execute to its ability and not have sluggish quarters and yield big plays to cough up sizeable leads, the Sun Devils can win this game without much of a struggle, but Arizona State has shown a noted tendency to keep games closer than they otherwise should be.
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