Deion Sanders kept saying his Colorado Buffaloes were close to turning the corner.
Turns out, he was right.
Kaidon Salter threw a pair of touchdown passes to lead the Buffs to a 24-17 upset of No. 22 Iowa State on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of 52,698 at Folsom Field.
CU (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) snapped an eight-game losing streak against Associated Press Top 25 teams, beating a ranked foe for the first time since Sanders’ first game at CU, Sept. 2, 2023, at TCU.
This was CU’s first win against a Top 25 team at home since beating then-No. 25 Nebraska on Sept. 7, 2019.
Salter, who threw three interceptions a week earlier in a loss at TCU, overcame a bit of a shaky start Saturday to throw for 255 yards and two scores — one to Omarion Miller and one to Joseph Williams.
CU scored the last 10 points of the game, got a couple of huge plays from its defense in the fourth quarter, and put the game away in the closing minutes.
After the two teams traded punts throughout the first 10 minutes, CU got its offense going late in the first quarter.
Salter directed a 12-play, 90-yard drive for a touchdown. Micah Welch capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run on the last play of the first quarter, giving the Buffs a 7-0 lead.
Punts continued for both sides until the Cyclones got on the board with a 38-yard field goal by Chase Smith to cut the CU lead to 7-3 with 6 minutes, 40 seconds to play in the second quarter.
CU got into Iowa State territory on its next possessions but stalled inside the 50 both times and punted, with Damon Greaves pinning the Cyclones inside the 10-yard line both times.
Cyclones veteran quarterback Rocco Becht wasn’t deterred by the second, though. ISU got the ball at its own 4-yard line with 2:07 to play in the half, and Becht promptly carved up the Buffs for a 10-play, 96-yard scoring drive.
Becht went 6-for-7 for 74 yards and had a 19-yard run on the drive, which was capped by Abu Sama III punching it into the end zone for a 1-yard run and a 10-7 Cyclones lead 22 seconds before the half.
The Buffs’ Buck Buchanan missed a 57-yard field goal attempt was wide right at the halftime buzzer, but CU came out hot in the second half.
On the second play of the third quarter, Salter found Omarion Miller wide open down the left side of the field for a 70-yard touchdown.
That sparked an action-packed third quarter in which the lead changed three times.
Iowa State responded to CU’s touchdown with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by Sama’s 1-yard touchdown run. That gave ISU the lead, 17-14, with 9:26 to play in the third.
CU came right back, however, with another scoring drive. Salter connected with Williams for a 3-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone and a 21-17 Buffs lead with 4:26 to play in the third.
The Buffs ended Iowa State’s threat on the next possession when Tawfiq Byard picked off Becht at the 1-yard line. CU was unable to capitalize, though, driving to its own 44-yard line before punting.
Iowa State couldn’t move the ball, though, and chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 from its 18-yard line. The Buffs, led by Amari McNeill and Jeremiah Brown, stuffed Sama for no gain and CU took over in the red zone.
Although CU didn’t fully capitalize, Alejandro Mata’s 29-yard field goal gave the Buffs a 24-17 lead with 5:13 to play in the fourth.
Iowa State was forced to punt on its next possession and CU took over with 3:48 to go and ran out the clock from there. Salter’s 38-yard pass to Joseph Williams on third-and-16 with 1:55 to go kept the last drive alive to put the game away.
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