Week 9 of the college football season is here and despite there not being a ranked matchup this weekend in the Big 12, there is still plenty on the line with conference play in full swing. One of the biggest games of the weekend took place in Boulder, Colorado as the Colorado Buffaloes hosted the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Colorado was fresh off a big win over Arizona on the road while Cincinnati took care of business against Arizona State last week. Both teams entered the game in the hunt for a Big 12 title with a 3-1 conference record, but it would be the Buffaloes who came out on top 34-23. Here are the top three takeaways from the game.
Travis Hunter Should Win the Heisman
I have said this before, but I will say it again, Travis Hunter is the best player in college football regardless of position. He plays offense and defense at an extremely high level, and I am pretty sure he is selling popcorn and beer in the stands as well. The man can literally do it all.
He isn’t one of those two-way players that is just really good on one side of the ball or one of those guys who plays a position and returns punts. Travis is out there almost every snap of the game playing wide receiver and cornerback.
Against Cincinnati, Travis finished a team high nine catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He had a few incredible catches as usual but that wasn’t all he did on Saturday night. Defensively, he had three pass break ups and was excellent in coverage. What we are watching week in and week out with Travis Hunter is pure greatness, and I hope that people truly appreciate what he’s doing. Someone book this man a ticket to New York City in December.
Related: Travis Hunter Takes Shot at Ashton Jeanty Heisman Hype
Cincinnati Struggled on Both Sides
It’s hard for me to point the finger at one side of the ball for Cincinnati because they had some issues on both sides. Brendan Sorsby struggled a bit with his accuracy as he completed less than 52% of his passes, but he did toss two touchdown passes and didn’t turn the ball over. Plus, the offense had trouble staying on the field on third down as they converted just three out of their ten third down attempts.
The defense had a tougher time than the offense. They had no answer for Travis Hunter at all and they let Colorado convert way too may third downs. At times, they struggled to stop Colorado’s ground game and let the Buffaloes control the game as well. It didn’t help that they couldn’t get a ton of pressure on Shedeur Sanders either when you consider how many times he’s been sacked this season. Despite the loss, Cincinnati is not out of the Big 12 title race just yet and they still just need one more win to get to a bowl game.
Colorado is Going Bowling
Back at Big 12 media days, the Colorado Buffaloes were picked to finish eleventh in the conference. Many people (including myself) thought that Colorado would struggle with life in the Big 12. While the Buffaloes did have an ugly loss to Nebraska early in the season, that seems like an eternity ago. Now with a win over Cincinnati on Saturday night, Colorado is now bowl eligible for the first time since 2016. I wasn’t expecting such a quick turnaround under Deion Sanders, but I must give him credit because he has done one heck of a job with this team. They have gotten better and better each week and with a 4-1 conference record, this team is very much in the Big 12 title race heading into the month of November with a very favorable schedule remaining.
