Sean Keeler: Deion Sanders, sloppy Colorado get schooled by Northwestern nerds

Sports admin September 20, 2026 0 Comments

Sean Keeler: Deion Sanders, sloppy Colorado get schooled by Northwestern nerds

EVANSTON, Ill. – Coach Prime just got trucked by the Geek Squad.

What a Cat-as-trophe. Nerds haven’t had this much fun since Dean Ulich made the Alpha Beta jocks go sleep in the Adams College gym after wrecking the Tri-Lambs’ house.

And while we’re on the subject of wrecking, the Deion Sanders Era has a new tape to burn. Or fire directly into the sun at the first opportunity. Coach Prime’s Buffs made Northwestern, the most mid of mid Big Ten brands, look like peak Utah.

The Wildcats (2-0) are better than their record will be at the end of the year. They’re not Utah. And they’re sure as heck not 41-7 better than the Buffs. Not even close. That last part is on CU.

And that’s the part that worries you.

CU got drilled between the ears. The Buffs got lulled into what any Iowa, Wisconsin or Minnesota fan could tell you is the Wildcat sleeper hold. Tiny stadium. Tiny student body. Terrible weather. Skies straight out of an old Universal horror movie. If you don’t bring your own juice, you’re going to want to be going home at the first opportunity.

The Buffs noticed right away.

“This place sucks!” a CU player was heard shouting in a pregame video posted to X.com. “(Expletive) smells like a (expletive) library.”

The Buffs’ meltdown wasn’t talent. It was maturity.

CU outrushed the Wildcats 119-84 in the first half and outgained them 199-189.

On a dry field and sunny skies at any altitude, the Buffs probably win this one by 10 or more. Alas, Evanston doesn’t do dry and it rarely does sunny.

The Wildcats couldn’t extend a drive longer than 35 yards until their last one of the first half. And even then, the Buffs gave ’em help. With 3:04 left in the half, trailing 14-0, Boo Carter was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on Northwestern’s third-and-11 at the CU 38 that would’ve forced an unmakeable kick or a funky punt. Instead, the hosts got a new set of downs at the CU 25. Northwestern scored five plays later on quarterback Aidan Chiles’ second rushing score of the half.

Can’t extend gifts on the road to a Big Ten team, even a mediocre one. The Wildcats’ first two scoring drives amassed all of 33 and 18 yards, respectively.

The Buffs were able to hang on to the ball on their initial drive of the second half, and find the end zone for the first time. After a Northwestern fumble gave CU the ball at their own 34, it went to work again. The Buffs’ fourth play was their best of a lost evening, as wideout Joseph Williams took a low Julian Lewis toss on a screen, found blockers and a lane, and zipped up the right boundary for a 50-yard score. The touchdown cut Northwestern’s lead to 21-6 before the extra point.

But even a little spark of joy had a short shelf life. Wildcats offensive coordinator Chip Kelly had fun alternating body shots via quarterback Aiden Chiles’ legs, and daggers with Chiles’ arm on Northwestern’s first drive after that CU touchdown. On fourth-and-1 at the Buffs’ 27, the 6-foot-4 transfer from Michigan State powered for the first down. On the next play, Kelly ripped out what was left of the Buffs’ hearts. Chiles spotted a breakdown in the CU secondary and hit a wide-open Joseph Himon II for a 25-yard score, pushing the lead to 27-7 before the kick.

As for the weather, you can have it. Balls in the first half wiggled through Buffs hands like greased pigs. Footing resembled center ice at an Avalanche preseason game.

The Buffs were Mother Nature’s first victims. With five minutes left in the first quarter, CU back Micah Welch ran into a pile of purple. Wildcats defensive lineman Michael Kilbane reached around and punched the ball loose. The rock squirted around the turf before being recovered by Northwestern’s Robert Fitzgerald at the CU 44.

It was a favor the ‘Cats needed, but the sort of charity CU didn’t. The slower hosts relished the short field, driving methodically over six plays to the CU 2. Chiles faked a handoff and kept it for a short touchdown scamper and a 6-0 lead.

A slick ball did the Buffs in again on their very next drive. Damian Henderson and JuJu alternated carries past midfield and into Northwestern territory, grinding as they did against Georgia Tech and setting up a third-and-3 at the NU 17. With 12:45 left in the half, Martin Stadium’s Turf Monster struck again. Henderson failed to secure the handoff from Lewis and the rock bounced into the waiting arms of Northwestern’s Brayden Brus at the hosts’ 20-yard line.

After the rain, CU’s worst enemy was itself. The Buffs’ team speed and tempo had the Wildcats on their heels early in almost every drive. On their fourth crack with the ball, two holding penalties turned a first-and-10 at midfield into a first-and-30 at the Buffs’ 28. On the ensuing play, Lewis threw a short across the middle, where the Wildcats’ Braden Turner jumped the route, picked it off, and returned it to the CU 18. On second-and-10, Northwestern back Joseph Himon got free on a wheel route up the left boundary, scoring from 18 yards out, and the Buffs trailed 13-0 with 7:59 to go in the second stanza.

Evanston, a sleepy, haughty lakeshore Chi-town suburb, is the meteorological opposite of Boulder. CU students get 300 days of sunshine. Northwestern’s kids see 300 days of gray. If they’re lucky.

The game opened under a light drizzle, with a flood watch looming after midnight for Chicago, whose downtown crept 14 miles south along Lake Michigan’s shoreline. Any views of the Second City from Martin Stadium, alas, were obscured by clouds, giving the campus, with its gothic windows and ancient spires, an even stronger Hogwarts feel.

The wizardry on Saturday ultimately belonged to Kelly and his nerds, who made the Go-Go a no-show.

Norlin Library’s open until 11 p.m. Sunday night, boys. Study up. If the Buffs play smarter against Baylor next weekend, everything short of 12-0 is still on the table. Although if Saturday night was any harbinger, they might want to spend next week hitting those books. And the weights.

This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 11:43 PM.