The Colorado Buffaloes and Kansas State Wildcats clash at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, on Halloween, with both teams looking to recover from a loss. The Buffaloes, however, look to snap a five-game losing skid against Kansas State.

This certainly feels like a must-win game for coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, as a beatable K-State team dealing with quarterback injuries is an opportunity they won’t run into often. Follow along for live updates on the Buffs’ clash with the Wildcats.

This article will be updated live throughout the game.

Pregame:

Deion Sanders’ hot seat

As the Buffaloes enter this game, there is a growing feeling of anxiety surrounding Coach Prime. He’s been on hot-seat watch for the entire season, but this is the hottest his seat has ever been. After a three-win 2025 season, Buffs fans and the University of Colorado demanded better results out of Sanders’ squad with a new-look roster in 2026. However, this season is shaping up to be worse somehow, as this five-game losing skid has blown up any preseason hype.

For reference, Dave Aranda, the coach of the Baylor Bears, was fired on Sunday, Oct. 25, after the Bears’ 25-24 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks. The Bears sat at 4-3, 2-2 in the Big 12, after that loss, and had even beaten the Buffaloes earlier this season. Aranda was objectively having a better season than Sanders, and still got the hook. 

Something to factor into Colorado’s hesitancy to move on from Sanders, though, is his $25+ million buyout on his contract, which it would hope to avoid paying as much as possible.

Injuries riddling both quarterback rooms

But one of the key storylines surrounding the on-field performance in this game is the injuries to each team’s quarterback room. 

The Wildcats got the short end of the stick, as they’ll be without not only star quarterback Avery Johnson, but also his backup, Jacob Knuth. That leaves third-stringer Dillon Duff as the starter in this game. He has yet to make an appearance in a K-State uniform and gets the call as the starter over Erie, Colorado, native Blake Barnett, per Pete Thamel.

While Colorado still has its starter in Isaac Wilson, he hasn’t produced as the Buffaloes had hoped when they promoted him to the role. Wilson’s seven interceptions in the last three games have been killers, but injuries left the Buffaloes with limited options coming into this game.

Julian Lewis, who was Colorado’s Week 1 starter this season, was listed as questionable at the start of Week 9. On Wednesday, Lewis’ family released a statement that read that he suffered a medical emergency at the team’s facility and was taken to the hospital. He was downgraded to out the following day.

Keys to success for the Colorado Buffaloes

The Buffaloes will need to lean on their defense in this game as a result, a unit in desperate need of a rebound. It allowed a whopping 57 points to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, as its secondary found very little success in Week 8.

The Buffaloes’ linebackers and interior defensive line will be tasked with reining in the legs of Duff in this game. If they can do that, it’ll force the Wildcats’ offense to become more one-dimensional, which would then allow that secondary a chance at redemption as Duff puts the ball in the air.