Deion Sanders’ Colorado will be playing in the postseason. In Sanders’ second season as head coach after taking over the worst power-conference team in college football, the Buffaloes (6-2, 4-1 Big 12) are bowl eligible after beating Cincinnati 34-23.

Colorado hasn’t played in a bowl game since it went 4-2 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The program hasn’t won a bowl game since 2004, and this season will mark its third bowl appearance since 2007.

Sanders has made frequent references this year to 99-year-old Colorado superfan Peggy Coppom and his promise to get her to a bowl game this season. The Buffaloes are eyeing more than just a bowl, too. Colorado is one of just four Big 12 teams with one or fewer conference losses, leaving it in the mix for the Big 12 title and one of the automatic bids to the 12-team College Football Playoff reserved for the five highest-ranked conference champions.

“I know Peggy. She’s got expensive taste. She don’t just want a bowl. She wants a bowl bowl. And I ain’t talkin’ about Manute (Bol),” Sanders told ESPN during the Buffaloes’ win.

Two-way star Travis Hunter re-entered the Heisman Trophy race with nine catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns on nine targets. He added four pass breakups and two tackles on defense, playing a total of 130 snaps. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders suffered a hip injury in the second half and received treatment on the sidelines but remained in the game, finishing 25 of 30 for 323 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

“It’s big for us because it’s big for the fans,” Shedeur Sanders said. “We’re not hitting our peak. We’re nowhere close.”

Under new defensive coordinator Rob Livingston, a first-time play caller, the Buffaloes have fashioned a respectable defense. They have also found a running game in recent weeks: last week’s win over Arizona (128 yards) and Saturday’s win (125 yards) were Colorado’s two most successful rushing performances of the season.

Sanders’ transfer-heavy approach to roster building has come under fire throughout his tenure, and the Buffaloes fell short of the postseason a year ago at 4-8 after a 3-0 start made them the biggest story in the sport. A year later, though, Sanders is seeing results.

Now, the Buffaloes have a chance to play into December. The last four games of the season — at Texas Tech, Utah, at Kansas and the home finale against Oklahoma State — will decide how high they climb.

GO DEEPER

Travis Hunter tracker: Colorado star re-energizes Heisman campaign with electrifying night

(Photo: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)

There were no major upsets in Week 9 of the college football season, only shaky performances.

Ohio State and Texas both survived sloppy quarterback play to win games against Nebraska and Texas, respectively. Kansas State narrowly defeated Kansas and SMU eked out a victory over Duke.

The performances from the weekend closed the curtain on October. The next four weeks will have a tremendous impact on how the College Football Playoff could pan out.

For now, here’s the winners and losers of the week that was.

Winners

Texas A&M: How about those Aggies? After the ferocious comeback against LSU on Saturday night, thanks to a strong defense and quarterback Marcel Reed, Texas A&M now sits atop the SEC standings. The only undefeated SEC team, they are on a path toward the College Football Playoff. This was a monster win for head coach Mike Elko, who is in his first year at the helm at College Station. If they can keep this up, that matchup against Texas after Thanksgiving is going to be insane.

Colorado: Deion Sanders told us he was going to turn the Colorado program around, and he’s done that in his second season as head coach. The Buffaloes are 6-2, bowl eligible, and are still in the hunt for the Big 12 championship. Travis Hunter continues to put together Heisman Trophy-worthy performances while Shedeur Sanders continues to impress in the passing game. The Buffs could win out, which is something I don’t know that we were thinking after that loss to Nebraska last month.

Boise State: The Broncos continue to run their offense through running back Ashton Jeanty, and it’s paying off. A big win over UNLV on Friday night keeps them in the conversation for the at-large bid in the college football playoffs, and it doesn’t look like they are slowing down anytime soon. Boise State is going to be a problem if they can make the playoffs, and they’re inching closer to that opportunity. 

Oregon: The Ducks put an exclamation point on a huge win in the Big Ten Conference to remain undefeated. Dillon Gabriel moved to second in FBS passing touchdowns after he threw three in the 38-9 win over Illinois. He had 291 passing yards as well. Oregon is separating itself from some of the top teams in the conference.

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders fires a pass during the second half against Cincinnati at Folsom Field, Oct. 26, 2024, in Boulder, Colo. (Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images)

Miami: It’s safe to say the Hurricanes run Florida. Miami trounced Florida State, 36-14, in another statement game by one of the top teams in the nation. Cam Ward improved his Heisman stock with 208 passing yards. The Hurricanes already have wins over Florida, Florida A&M and South Florida this season, and they do not have another ranked opponent on the schedule.

Iowa’s Brendan Sullivan: It was next man up for the Hawkeyes, and they may have discovered their new offensive formula. After Sullivan replaced Cade McNamara, Iowa went on a 37-0 run over the next two quarters.

Losers

Nebraska defensive lineman Jimari Butler, left, tackles Ohio State quarterback Will Howard during the second half, Oct. 26, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

Ohio State: Yes, the Buckeyes came away with a victory, but it wasn’t the prettiest as Nebraska was just short in the 21-17 finish. This came after the Buckeyes fell to Oregon, and they have another high-ranked team in the Penn State Nittany Lions next week on the road. The roster is no doubt as talented as can be, but Ryan Day’s group need to be more polished after not looking like the usual well-oiled machine they are.

Kentucky: The Wildcats are windless at home this season in the SEC, dropping their third straight game this season at the hands of Auburn this time. I have no idea what’s going on in Lexington right now, but this team seems checked-out under head coach Mark Stoops, who might want to look for a way out after this season, again. Kentucky is now 2-11 in its last 13 SEC home games, and the problems keep adding up. 

LSU: The Tigers were ranked No. 8 going into their game against Texas A&M but suffered a huge loss at the hands of Marcel Reed and the Aggies. Their second loss of the season dropped them to No. 16 in the nation. The loss against USC continues to not look great on their resume.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly speaks with the officials during the second quarter against Texas A&M at Kyle Field, Oct. 26, 2024, at College Station, Texas. (Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images.)

The Fox News Digital Sports college football winners and losers were compiled by the Fox News Digital Sports staff and the OutKick.com staff.

No MLS coach has won more regular-season games over the past three years than LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo. But that’s really been just an opening act, an appetizer. Because where Cherundolo and his team shine brightest is in the playoffs, which they opened again Sunday with a methodical 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps before a sold-out crowd of 22,298 at BMO Stadium.

With the win, on goals from Denis Bouanga and Cristian Olivera, LAFC goes into the second game of the best-of-three playoff next weekend needing a victory to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. If Vancouver wins, the series will return to BMO Stadium on Nov. 8 for the third and deciding game.

Since taking over LAFC, Cherundolo has lost just once in nine postseason games, winning one MLS Cup and losing by a goal in another. If he gets his team back to the championship game again this fall, he’ll become just the third man in league history — and the first in 17 years — to take his team to the final in three consecutive seasons.

However, the road there is fraught with potential potholes, a couple of which Cherundolo’s team steered around Sunday.

“The guys did enough to win the first game and nothing more,” Cherundolo said.

“There’s more work to be done. There’s a couple more games. Maybe only one for us.”

LAFC weathered a shaky start that saw Vancouver blow a golden opportunity to go ahead in the seventh minute when Stuart Armstrong burst in the box alone with only LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris to beat. And he beat him cleanly, but his right-footed shot bounced off the left post and across the front of the goal without crossing the line.

Seven minutes later Pedro Vite threw another scare into the home team, sending a low right-footed shot inches wide of the other post. If either had gone in, it could have spelled trouble for LAFC, which won just once in 11 regular-season games when conceding the first score.

But all that became moot when a video replay convinced referee Jair Marrufo that Vancouver defender Tristan Blackmon had blocked Mateusz Bogusz’s shot with his arm, leading to a penalty kick Bouanga converted for a 1-0 LAFC lead. The goal, in the 30th minute, was Bouanga’s 21st of the season and his league-best eighth from the spot.

Vancouver nearly matched that in stoppage time when Ryan Gauld curled a left-footed free kick from 20 yards off the crossbar, giving the goalposts more saves than Lloris in a first half that ended with LAFC leading. And that brought two more stats into play: LAFC entered Sunday 15-1-0 in MLS play when leading after 45 minutes and 6-1-2 in its last nine games with Vancouver, including a two-game sweep in the first round of last season’s playoffs.

Neither of those trends would be reversed in a second half that LAFC dominated, doubling its lead 12 minutes after the break at the end of a passing sequence that saw Ryan Hollingshead and Bogusz steer the ball around the box before hitting Olivera charging in from the right wing. Olivera then one-timed a hard right-footed shot that deflected off Whitecaps keeper Yohei Takaoka into the roof of the net.

“It was fun to watch,” Cherundolo said of the goal. “Exactly how we kind of draw up on the tactical board.”

Vancouver made the final seconds a bit dramatic when Gauld found the back of the net in the fifth minute of stoppage time to make the final score more respectable — and perhaps give the Whitecaps a bit of momentum entering the second game next weekend.

“Definitely job’s not done,” defender Aaron Long said, repeating his coach.

“It’ll be a complicated match,” Olivera added in Spanish. “We will go there and look for the win. It hasn’t been easy. But we have a good team that deserves to advance.”

LAFC forward Kei Kamara, top, goes airborne over Vancouver midfielder Sebastian Berhalter during the second half Sunday.

(Alex Gallardo / Associated Press)

Gauld’s goal came nine minutes after Carlos Vela, the last member of LAFC’s original roster, drew a huge ovation when he came on for Bouanga.

When Vela, whose last appearance came in December’s MLS Cup final, was waved on, Long rushed to the sideline, pulled the captain’s armband off his bicep and handed it to Vela, who wore it through most of the team’s first six seasons.

“That was an easy one,” Long said. “Carlos coming on the field, his first time back? Yeah, he’s getting that for sure.”

The team did not make Vela available for comment.