Moments That Popped: KU-Colorado at Arrowhead

Kansas City, Missouri — Well, we’re down to this.

A month ago, Kansas entered the final stretch of the season knowing it needed to win four in a row — three against ranked teams — to become bowl eligible.

On Saturday, after an impressive 37-21 beatdown of No. 16 Colorado at Arrowhead Stadium — that, honestly, was way more convincing than that score shows — the Jayhawks pushed that number to one, reminding anyone who watched that this team might actually have been every bit as good as people thought when the season began. It just took them some time to get there.

The Jayhawks (5-6 overall, 4-4 Big 12) were sensational in this one, out-gaining, out-playing, out-efforting and out-wanting Colorado from start to finish.

Not only was it a huge win for Kansas, but it also was a significant win in the college football landscape as a whole, with Colorado’s fight for a spot in the College Football Playoff taking a hit.

The Buffs, who are still alive in the Big 12 title race, dropped to 8-3 overall and 6-2 in Big 12 play with Saturday’s loss.

More from Saturday's win...

• 'RING OF HONOR'S NOT ENOUGH FOR THAT GUY'

• PHOTO GALLERY

• NOTES & NUMBERS

• COBEE vs. COLORADO

Next up, KU will head out on the road to close out the regular season, with a Saturday matchup at Baylor next weekend. Win and they'll play in a bowl game. Lose and the season is over.

The Jayhawks have never won in 11 tries in Waco, Texas, and have not defeated the Bears anywhere since 2007.

No kickoff time or television designation has been announced yet.

Here’s a look back at some of Saturday night’s action against the Buffs.

LIKES

• Devin Freakin’ Neal – We started the season with a lot of these types of posts — during some of the lean times on the schedule — but it’s back today because you just can’t overlook his greatness after this one. Forget the records, of which there are many. Forget the toughness, the physicality, the selflessness, the humility and all of the other traits that make him great. Devin Neal is freaking Superman. And he showed that over and over and over against Colorado on Saturday night. He scored 4 touchdowns. He hit 287 yards of total offense on 41 touches on the day and 1,000 yards on the season, making him the first player in KU history to have three 1,000-yard seasons in a career. He crossed the 50-touchdown mark for his career. And he delivered big run after big run when Kansas needed it most against the Buffs — first down, second down, third down, whatever. At one point, a few plays before his third touchdown of the day and after a 14-yard run for a first down, he looked to the KU sideline and made the “feed me” gesture. Good idea.

• Serious start – It lasted for quite a while longer, but you could feel it in the game’s first 5-10 plays. There was no question which team cared more about this game in the opening quarter, with KU playing harder, more physical and more inspired on just about every snap at all 11 positions on the field during that stretch. It made sense given Kansas’ win-out-or-else position. But you certainly would’ve thought that Colorado, which is playing for a Big 12 title and a spot in the College Football Playoff, also would’ve shown up with some extra juice for this one. Especially with everything at stake for them and in a venue like Arrowhead Stadium.

• Fourth-quarter transition – The game was still far from over, but boy was the transition between the 3rd and 4th quarter the perfect snapshot of how this one went, with the KU players dancing and jumping up and down and the Colorado players slowly walking to the other end of the field, looking every bit like a team that got whipped. It was that way on the first snap. And it stayed that way for much of the game. What a scene.

• Senior ceremony – Before Saturday’s kickoff, 38 Kansas seniors were honored with an on-field ceremony complete with jersey presentations, family members and lots of love. As each player was introduced before walking onto the field for their moment in the sun, he was greeted by KU Chancellor Doug Girod and Athletic Director Travis Goff. That was followed up by a hug from KU coach Lance Leipold and all kinds of smiles. More pregame fun: KU legends Gilbert Brown, Tony Sands and June Henley also were introduced to the Arrowhead Stadium crowd and the trio then joined the KU captains at midfield for the opening coin toss.

DISLIKES

• Settling for 3 – Three times in the first half, the Kansas offense had first-and-goal opportunities, and on each of those three occasions, the Jayhawks had to settle for a Tabor Allen field goal. The kicks made sense at the time they happened, but the bigger issue was the Jayhawks’ inability to turn those opportunities in 7 points. Colorado’s ability to force KU to settle for field goals opened the door for the Buffs to crawl back into it. CU trailed 23-14 at halftime — when it could’ve been and felt like it was much, much worse — and the Buffaloes scored a TD on their first drive of the second half to cut what once was a 17-0 KU lead to a 23-21 lead. KU corrected this in a big way early in the fourth quarter with a 4th-and-1 conversion on the drive that iced the game. Rather than taking the field goal and pushing a 9-point lead to 12, the Jayhawks elected to go for it on fourth down and got it with a tough run from, who else, Devin “Real Deal” Neal.

• KU’s pass rush – The Jayhawks had their moments when they got pressure on CU QB Shedeur Sanders, but they were few and far between. And the rest of the game, the talented quarterback who’s certain to be a first-round pick this spring, had all kinds of time to drift and survey, pat the ball, keep his eyes downfield and wait for something to come open. It didn’t always lead to big things for the Buffs, but disrupting Sanders would’ve made this a much more comfortable win.

WHAT THE?

• Dean Miller torpedo – This low hit on Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders was initially called roughing the passer, but the flag was picked up upon review. Replay showed that it probably should not have been. In fact, KU D-End Dean Miller was probably lucky the call wasn’t worse. There’s zero chance Miller was doing anything other than playing hard and trying to make a tackle. But to see that happen to a guy with an insanely bright NFL future was wild at best and downright scary at worst. Luckily, Sanders’ feet were not planted and his lower body absorbed the hit without much trouble. CU coach Deion Sanders didn’t love that the flag was picked up, but there’s almost no way he saw how vicious the hit looked live because, if he had, he might have had a lot more to say about it. Here’s a look. Wild, wild play.