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Colorado-NDSU officiating draws heavy criticism after Buffs escape with win

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

Colorado opened Year 2 under Deion Sanders on Thursday night with a 31-26 win over North Dakota State. The Buffs didn’t cover against an FCS opponent, but for a program that lost 8 of its final 9 games last season and dropped a number of close games, winning ugly is the first step back to respectability.

The issue, as observers saw it, was that Colorado had some help.

https://twitter.com/RedditCFB/status/1829359202906595740

One of the more impactful no-calls of the night came on a second-and-10 completion from NDSU’s Cam Miller to Braylon Henderson with 23 seconds remaining. Henderson produced 19 yards on a catch-and-run, moving the ball from the NDSU 28 to the 47 with 15 seconds on the clock.

Henderson was knocked to the ground by Colorado defensive back Colton Hood. While a flag was not thrown for targeting, it looked to many like Hood led with the crown of his helmet and made first contact to Henderson’s helmet.

A flag would have stopped the clock at 15 and pushed the ball down to the Colorado 38. By the time North Dakota State got to the line and got set to spike the football, just 9 seconds remained.

NDSU got just 2 more plays off from midfield before time expired — an incompletion on second down and then a hail mary that was caught shy of the goal line.

Had targeting been enforced, it might not have changed the outcome of the game, but it still looked questionable at best.

But observers were also left wondering on several plays involving Colorado star Travis Hunter. He seemed to get away with multiple instances of offensive pass interference.

 

Hunter finished with 7 catches for 132 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 3-yard highlight-reel grab that put Colorado up by 11 with 8 to play and proved to be the necessary insurance. Hunter had just 5 receiving touchdowns all last season.

Colorado safety Shilo Sanders — son to coach Deion — also drew the ire of some for several plays that looked questionable but were not flagged. (The third clip in the tweet below did draw a personal foul.)

The victory was Colorado’s first since Oct. 7 of last year. After the game, Colorado’s head coach said it felt like his team won but it didn’t win. Still, he didn’t let the opportunity pass by to speak to perceived doubters.

“We’re not for looks, man. It’s a W or an L. That’s what you’ll remember. You guys can pick it apart all you want, but you’re here for the W or the L. Some of you upset that we got the W, some of you really mad we didn’t get the L,” Sanders said. “So God bless y’all, you’ll have to wait again till next week.”

 

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.

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