Deion Sanders and Colorado lost their third game of the season on Saturday. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
We could be headed for a four-way tie atop the Big 12 entering the final week of the regular season.
No. 16 Colorado lost 37-21 at Kansas on Saturday while No. 14 BYU lost 28-23 at No. 21 Arizona State in an absolutely chaotic finish.
The Buffaloes’ defense was gashed by Kansas RB Devin Neal. The senior who grew up not far from the University of Kansas campus had 287 total yards and four touchdowns as Colorado’s defense gave up big play after big play.
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BYU scored 20 points in the second half but its comeback attempt was foiled with 1:04 to go when Jake Retzlaff’s overthrown pass was intercepted by Javan Robinson. The defensive back returned the ball 64 yards before he was tackled inside the BYU 10-yard line to seal the game. Or so we thought.
Instead of trying to score the TD and get a two-score lead, Arizona State inexplicably tried to run the clock out. Sam Leavitt’s pass to try to end the game landed in the stands with one second to go. That gave BYU a Hail Mary attempt from its own 44 yard-line because Leavitt ran backward on second down to burn time.
The final play was delayed over 10 minutes because of a replay review and because the field needed to be cleared of the students who rushed it thinking the game was over.
And BYU almost pulled off the miracle win once the field was clear. Chase Roberts caught Retzlaff’s pass, but he was tackled short of the end zone.
Colorado and BYU entered Week 13 tied atop the Big 12 at 6-1 in the conference while Arizona State and Iowa State were at 5-2. If the Cyclones win against Utah on Saturday night, all four teams will be tied at 6-2.
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Kansas makes history
The Jayhawks improved to 5-6 overall (3-5 Big 12) with the win and set an FBS first. Thanks to wins over Iowa State and BYU over the previous two weeks, Kansas is the first school to ever beat three consecutive ranked teams while having a losing record.
Neal had 37 carries for 207 yards as Kansas rushed the ball 57 times for 331 yards. Colorado can be vulnerable to opponents’ run games and the Buffs can’t run the ball themselves. Colorado rushed 13 times for 42 yards.
Kansas’ run game allowed it to control the ball against the Buffaloes. Kansas had the ball for over 40 minutes as Colorado ran just 42 plays to Kansas’ 58.
Travis Hunter didn’t do anything to ruin his great chances at the Heisman in the loss. Hunter had eight catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns while also playing on defense.
Who has the advantage to make the Big 12 title game?
Arizona State has the best chance of anyone to make the Big 12 title game. The Sun Devils are in with a win over Arizona in Week 14.
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Colorado, meanwhile, needs help if there’s a four-way tie at 7-2 and Iowa State beats both Utah and Kansas State in its final two games.
If all four teams end up tied atop the conference, the first tiebreaker would be against their common opponents of UCF, Kansas, Kansas State and Utah. Colorado is cooked in that tiebreaker with losses to the Jayhawks and Wildcats. ASU is 4-0 against those teams and Iowa State and BYU would be 3-1.
After that tiebreaker, it would progress to the winning percentage of conference opponents. In that tiebreaker, Iowa State currently has the edge.
Police in Northern Colorado are investigating after a crash involving multiple vehicles claimed the life of a pedestrian.
The Greeley Police Department received reports of a crash at the 5500 block of Highway 34 around 5:50 p.m. on Monday. When officers arrived, they discovered that two vehicles were involved in a crash with a 19-year-old woman who attempted to walk across the highway.
Police said there was no crosswalk in the area, and she was struck by the driver’s side of a Chevrolet Blazer. The impact knocked the woman into the inside lane, where she was struck by a Chevrolet Traverse. A witness told officers they saw the woman crossing the roadway ‘as traffic arrived at her location.’
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First responders attempted life-saving measures on the woman at the scene before she was taken to North Colorado Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. GPD said the Weld County Coroner’s Office will release her identity at a later time.
Neither driver involved was injured in the crash. Police said they don’t expect charges to be filed against those drivers at the moment, but the case remains under investigation. The police department asked anyone with information on the crash to contact Officer Ed Kubala at Edward.Kubala@greeleypd.com.
Colorado’s best ski deal? Maybe one that costs nothing at all. At Steamboat Springs’ Howelsen Hill, “Sunday Funday is taken to an entirely new level,” reads the city webpage for Ski Free Sundays. Yes, on Sundays throughout the season, visitors need only to walk into the ticket office to grab a pass at no charge. […]
While Colorado ranks near the middle of U.S. states for carbon emissions per capita, it still produces enough CO2 per person to rival countries on the World Bank’s list of top emitters internationally.
In 2023, Colorado produced 13.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per capita. If it had been ranked by the World Bank during the same year, Colorado would have placed 14th among the more than 200 countries on the list, just behind Canada, at 14.1, and just ahead of the U.S. as a whole, at 13.7.
Among U.S. states, Colorado ranked 26th in carbon emissions per capita. Wyoming had the highest per capita emissions in the country, at 92.9 metric tons, while Maryland had the lowest, at 7.8.
Most of Colorado’s emissions come from energy production and consumption, primarily natural gas and oil production and electric power production and consumption.
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This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
The Colorado Sun partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
Sources
References:
Colorado State Energy Profile, U.S. Energy Information Administration, accessed in December 2025. Source link
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2023 Colorado Statewide Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, pg. 128, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, November 2024. Source link
Senate Bill 24-230 Oil and Gas Production Fees, Colorado General Assembly, accessed in December, 2025. Source link
Senate Bill 23-016 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Measures, Colorado General Assembly, accessed in December 2025. Source link
Carbon dioxide emissions, World Bank Group, 2024, accessed in December 2025. Source link
Energy-related CO2 emission data tables, U.S. Energy Information Administration, accessed in December 2025. Source link
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Type of Story: Fact-Check
Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.
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Cassis Tingley is a Denver-based freelance journalist. She’s spent the last three years covering topics ranging from political organizing and death doulas in the Denver community to academic freedom and administrative accountability at the…
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