Buffaloes open 2026 with a dramatic road victory as Lewis answers in the final minutes and Carter blocks the potential game-winning field goal
ATLANTA — For most of Thursday night, Colorado quarterback Julian Lewis and the Buffaloes’ offense were searching for an answer.
When they finally needed one, Lewis delivered.
Trailing Georgia Tech 13-7 with 1:42 remaining, Lewis led Colorado 75 yards in eight plays, finishing the drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Williams with 42 seconds left.
“We knew we were going to score,” Lewis said afterward.
Thirty-nine seconds later, Boo Carter made sure the touchdown stood, coming off the edge to block Georgia Tech’s potential game-winning 45-yard field goal with three seconds remaining and sealing Colorado’s 14-13 season-opening victory at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“Perfect timing,” Carter said afterward.
It was an appropriate description for a Colorado team that spent much of the night hanging around before making its biggest plays at exactly the right time.
“I never flinched, man,” head coach Deion Sanders said.
Colorado leaves Atlanta 1-0.
And the way the Buffaloes got there may have told more about this team than an easy opening-night win ever could have.
Lewis responds when the game is on the line
Lewis’ final numbers weren’t spectacular.
The sophomore completed 14 of 27 passes for 124 yards and one touchdown as Colorado struggled to consistently stretch the field through the air.
But none of that mattered when the Buffaloes got the ball back with less than two minutes remaining.
Colorado faced third-and-11 from its own 25 before Lewis connected with Joseph Williams for 16 yards. Williams added another seven-yard reception later in the possession, and DeKalon Taylor broke loose for 16 yards to move Colorado to the Georgia Tech 20.
Then Lewis and offensive coordinator Brennan Marion saw exactly what they wanted.
“It looked like they were in man,” Lewis said afterward.
Lewis found Charlie Williams underneath and Williams did the rest, fighting his way into the end zone for the score that gave Colorado its first lead since early in the second quarter.
Lewis’ explanation afterward was simple.
“Coach Marion beat them with the play. I beat them with the ball,” Lewis said.
For Sanders, the moment was bigger than one completion.
Lewis had struggled. The game had been ugly. Colorado had repeatedly missed opportunities.
But with the game sitting directly on his shoulders, the young quarterback didn’t retreat.
“He didn’t shrink in the moment,” Sanders said. “He stood up and did his thing.”
That may ultimately be the biggest takeaway from Lewis’ night.
Not 124 yards.
Not his completion percentage.
The response.
Colorado establishes a different offensive identity
Colorado’s final touchdown came through the air, but the Buffaloes spent most of Thursday night establishing an identity on the ground.
Colorado rushed 49 times for 183 yards, controlling possession for more than 34 minutes.
Damian Henderson II carried 12 times for 65 yards. Micah Welch added 58 yards and Colorado’s first touchdown on 13 carries, while JaQuail Smith finished with 42 yards on 10 attempts.
The Buffaloes’ commitment to Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense was obvious.
Colorado consistently used multiple backs, attacked downhill and continued handing the football off even when explosive plays weren’t there.
Sanders said that commitment started with what Colorado believed it could do up front.
“We know we’re big up front. We know we can be physical. We know these guys can move bodies,” Sanders said.
That’s a significant development for Colorado.
During Sanders’ first three seasons in Boulder, the Buffaloes have frequently been defined by their passing game. Thursday night looked different.
Colorado didn’t ask Lewis to throw it 40 or 50 times.
It leaned on the offensive line and running backs, played a possession game and trusted its defense.
The defense gives Colorado a chance
That defense may have been the biggest reason Colorado was still within striking distance in the fourth quarter.
Georgia Tech did not score an offensive touchdown.
The Yellow Jackets’ only touchdown came when Rahkeem Smith returned a kickoff 100 yards immediately after Welch gave Colorado a 7-0 lead in the second quarter.
Georgia Tech’s offense managed only two field goals the rest of the night.
Colorado held the Yellow Jackets to 51 rushing yards on 30 attempts and 288 total yards. Georgia Tech converted just five of 13 third-down attempts.
Junior defensive lineman Lamont Lester Jr. was one of the biggest reasons why.
Making his Buffaloes debut, Lester recorded three sacks, the most by a Colorado player in his CU debut since at least 2003.
Randon Fontenette led Colorado with eight total tackles, while Gideon Lampron added five solo stops.
More importantly, Colorado continually responded when Georgia Tech approached the end zone.
The Yellow Jackets reached the Colorado 4 late in the first half but were forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal.
Georgia Tech again drove inside Colorado’s red zone late in the fourth quarter, but the Buffaloes kept the Yellow Jackets out of the end zone and forced another field goal.
That stop kept the deficit at six.
Without it, Lewis’ final drive might not have mattered.
Boo Carter gets the last word
Even after Colorado finally took the lead, Georgia Tech nearly ripped the win away.
On the first play after the touchdown, Alberto Mendoza hit Dalen Penson for 42 yards, immediately moving the Yellow Jackets into Colorado territory.
With three seconds left, Georgia Tech sent Aidan Birr out for a 45-yard attempt to win the game.
Carter already knew what he wanted to do.
“My coach gave me a little method on how to jump it,” Carter said.
He timed the snap, exploded off the edge and got his hand on the football.
Ballgame.
It wasn’t something Carter had never done before, either.
“It wasn’t my first one. I did one at practice before,” he said.
This one just happened to come with Colorado’s season opener hanging in the balance.
For a special-teams unit that had already surrendered a 100-yard kickoff return and had a fourth-quarter field goal blocked, Carter’s play completely changed how the night would be remembered.
Instead of walking out of Bobby Dodd Stadium wondering how another opportunity slipped away, Colorado walked out 1-0.
“This is our first game, so just coming out 1-0 and going back home with a win just feels good,” Carter said.
A different kind of win
Colorado still has plenty to clean up. The passing game struggled for long stretches, special teams gave up a kickoff return touchdown and had a field goal blocked, and the Buffaloes managed just 14 points.
But Thursday night also showed some things Colorado can build on.
The Buffaloes ran the ball with consistency, controlled stretches of the game up front and kept Georgia Tech’s offense out of the end zone. More importantly, when the game finally reached its biggest moments, Colorado responded.
Lewis led the drive the Buffaloes had to have, Charlie Williams finished it in the end zone, and Boo Carter made the final play to preserve the win.
It wasn’t a clean performance, and it wasn’t dominant, but for a program trying to rebound from a 3-9 season, finding a way to win a game like this matters.
Colorado leaves Atlanta 1-0, with plenty to correct but also with something it didn’t have enough of a year ago — a close-game win to build on.
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