Quarterback Kaidon Salter led Colorado to a 37-20 victory over Wyoming with 304 passing yards and 86 rushing yards.
Coach Deion Sanders praised Salter’s performance after previously benching him in favor of another quarterback.
Colorado debuted a new live buffalo mascot, Ralphie VII, before the game.
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders finally may have found the right quarterback to replace his son Shedeur.
After sorting through three candidates at the position so far, Sanders went back to the one his team picked up in the transfer portal last December. Kaidon Salter, the transfer from Liberty, answered the call with his legs and arm in a 37-20 win at home Saturday, Sept. 20, against Wyoming.
He completed 18 of 28 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns along with 86 yards rushing, including a 35-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring. The win improved Colorado to 2-2 in front of a sold-out crowd of 53,442.
‘Kaidon Salter came back and played his butt off,’ Deion Sanders said after the game.
Colorado finished with 497 total yards after Salter led his team to four touchdowns in his first six possessions while the Buffaloes built a 28-3 lead early in the second half.
‘He just made it happen, you know?’ Sanders said. ‘The timing was impeccable, and he made some big throws, some big throws, some big runs, especially the run at the end. And that’s, that’s, that’s the guy. That’s the guy that we wanted to see and that we’re seeing. And I’m glad you’re getting the opportunity to see him at his best.’
Kaidon Salter says it was ‘rough’ not playing last week
Sanders has tried out three different quarterbacks this year as he attempts to replace his son Shedeur, now a backup quarterback with the Cleveland Browns.
Salter started the first two games but was benched last week in favor of redshirt sophomore Ryan Staub, who struggled in a 36-20 loss at Houston Sept. 12. Sanders also had been frustrated with Salter previously because he seemed tentative at times and didn’t use his legs the way did at Liberty, where he led his team to a 13-1 season in 2023 as a dual-threat quarterback.
‘It’s been rough not playing last week,’ Salter said after the game. ‘But I just stayed straight talking to family, talking to God and just making sure the next opportunity I got I took full advantage of it.’
Deion Sanders says team will be hard to beat with QB play like that
In one sequence Saturday night, Salter delivered a bang-bang display of his old self. It came at the start of the third quarter, when Salter scampered up the middle for a 20-yard gain on second down. On the very next play, he threw a play-action pass down the middle of the field for a 47-yard touchdown to receiver Joseph Williams to help put his team up 28-3.
In the first half, Salter also had touchdown passes of 29 and 68 yards, with the latter coming on a rollout and floater to receiver Sincere Brown down the right sideline.
‘You’ve seen glimpses of what he’s capable of doing,’ Sanders said. ‘We just want that consistently and when we get that consistently, we’re gonna be hard to deal with.’
New live mascot runs for Colorado
After losing at Houston, the vibe changed immediately for Colorado before the game even began. That’s because the Buffaloes debuted a new live buffalo mascot for the traditional pregame run on the field. Her name is Ralphie VII. And she charged out of her gate so hard that her handlers had a hard time keeping up with her, especially in her run to start the second half.
The team seemed to mirror her energy – up to a point. The Buffs jumped out to that 28-3 right after halftime but then sort of decelerated as Wyoming cut the lead to 30-20 with 4:32 remaining.
‘She started out well and finished strong, unlike us,’ Sanders said of Ralphie’s run. ‘I’m not happy with the finish. I’m happy with the results, but I’m not happy with the finish. I told our young men (there was) too much ha-ha and he-he-ing when we got the lead.’
Deion Sanders: ‘Kill a gnat with a sledgehammer’
Wyoming freshman running back Samuel Harris rushed for 126 yards on 19 carries. But Colorado also got a big stop early in the fourth quarter when Colorado defender Arden Walker sacked the quarterback in the end zone for a safety and a 30-13 lead.
‘We have stay hungry regardless of what the score is,’ Walker said.
It didn’t help that Colorado suffered a series of injuries in the game, including to offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and running back Simeon Price. ‘We’re praying they’re gonna be OK,’ Sanders said.
Now Colorado returns to Big 12 Conference play with a game next Saturday night at home against BYU.
‘I don’t like how we didn’t kill a gnat with a sledgehammer towards the end,’ Sanders said. ‘We’re better than that.’
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
(This story was updated to change a gallery and video.)