Saturday, September 26
Waco, Texas
11 a.m.
Baylor
vs
Colorado
Football Opens Big 12 Play with Colorado on Saturday at McLane
9/21/2026 8:13:00 AM | Football
WACO, Texas -- Baylor opens Big 12 Conference play on Saturday, playing host to Colorado at 11 a.m. at McLane Stadium. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and broadcast on the Baylor Sports Media Network.
The ESPN2 broadcast crew will feature Lowell Galindo (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst) and Dawn Davenport (sideline) on the call. The Baylor Sports Network will be voiced by John Morris (play-by-play), Geff Gandy (analyst) and Bryson Jackson (sideline).
The game will be presented by TFNB Your Bank for Life and is dubbed Baylor's throwback game, honoring Colorado's first trip to Waco since 2007. The first 5,000 fans will receive a limited Bruiser bobblehead, the Bears will wear a special throwback jersey for the matchup and there will be a post-game concert by Texas country legend Pat Green.
The Bears have won two of their first three games to open the year, including two straight at McLane Stadium, including a rout of defending SWAC Champion Prairie View A&M and a win over Louisiana Tech, a team that won eight games last year, on Saturday, 36-19.
This will be the first meeting with Colorado since a two-overtime thriller in Boulder in 2024, a CU win.
SCOUTING THE BUFFS
• Colorado is led by fourth-year head coach Deion Sanders, who took over the program after a historic run at Jackson State, where he went 27-6 in three seasons with a pair of Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships, including an 11-2 mark in 2021 and a 12-1 record in 2022. Sanders is one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of sport, as a former two-time All-American two-way player at Florida State, winning the Thorpe Award in 1988 and set the FSU record with 14 career interceptions, with three going to the house. He played in the NFL from 1989-2005 with 53 interceptions, while also catching 60 passes for 784 yards and three TDs as a WR. He had 19 career TDs on returns and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 after his 14-year NFL career with nine All-Pro selections. Beyond his football career, Sanders was a sixth-round MLB Draft pick who played 11 seasons in pro baseball. Sanders led the Buffs to a 9-4 record and a 7-2 mark in the Big 12 Conference in 2024 under the direction of eventual Heisman winner Travis Hunter and his son, QB Shedeur Sanders. CU went 3-9 last year, and 1-8 in league play.
• CU's offensive coordinator is Brennan Marion, in his first year after serving as the head coach of Sacramento State in 2025, leading the Hornets to a 7-5 record while averaging 33.8 points per game. His offense is dubbed the "go-go" offense and was built over two seasons as the OC at UNLV (2023-24), which followed a 2022 season as the WR coach at Texas, a 2021 season as the WR coach at Pitt, and a 2020 season as the WR coach at Hawaii. A former record-setting WR at Tulsa, Marion was the 2007 C-USA Newcomer of the Year and finished his career with 2,356 yards and 19 TDs. Chris Marve is CU's defensive coordinator in 2026, and came to the Buffs after serving as Virginia Tech's DC from 2022-24, which followed time working with LBs at Florida State (2020-21), Mississippi State 2019). He starred at Vanderbilt, earning All-Southeastern Conference honors four times and finishing his career with 397 tackles and 30 TFLs.
• The Buffs opened the season with a pair of wins, outlasting Georgia Tech 14-13 in Atlanta on Sept. 3, before routing Weber State on Sept. 12, 52-21. The win over Georgia Tech featured a 75-yard drive with just 37 seconds remaining that gave CU a 14-13 lead. Lamont Lester Jr. had three sacks and 3.5 TFLs in the win to pace a strong defensive effort. In the win over Weber State, QB Julian Lewis threw for 366 yards and four TDs and Micah Welch rushed 11 times for 106 yards and a score, with WR Joseph Williams and Deandre Moore Jr. each owning over 100 yards receiving and three TDs combined.
• Colorado suffered a 41-7 rout at the hands of Northwestern in Chicago on Saturday, with the Wildcats jumping out to a quick 21 points in the first half and stretching it to 41-7 into the fourth quarter. Northwestern totaled 423 yards of total offense vs. Colorado's 348, with the Buffs rushing for 180 yards and throwing for 168. JaQuil Smith had eight carries for 91 yards and Lewis was 19-for-29 with a TD and two picks.
• As a team, CU averages 24.3 points, including 10.5 points vs. FBS foes, with 230 yards passing, 181 rushing and 411 yards per game. Defensively, CU is allowing just 361 yards per game, with 118.3 rushing and 242.7 passing. Randon Fontenette leads the team with 24 tackles, 1.5 TFLs and an interception. Lester has six TFLs and four sacks. Lewis is 50-for-79 with six TDs and two interceptions, with Williams leading the team with 234 yards receiving, and Welch paces the team with 178 yards rushing.
• Fernando Lovo is in his first year as the AD at Colorado, taking over in Boulder following a successful run at New Mexico from 2024-25. He perviously worked at Texas, including a Senior Associate AD role in facilities and later operations.
LAST MEETING WITH BUFFS
• Baylor fell in an overtime thriller at Colorado in its Big 12 opener, 38-31 in a wild game that saw the Buffs tie the game on a hail mary as regulation expired and then win it after a game-tying touchdown attempt saw BU fumble while crossing the goal line out of the endzone.
• Baylor opened up a 24-10 lead and was poised for a 31-10 lead but a dropped potential touchdown kept the Buffs in the game before half and cut the lead to 24-17. The Bears saw Colorado even the game late in the third quarter at 24-24 before responding on a 61-yard drive that finished with a Sawyer Robertson TD pass to Hal Presley with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter, owning a 31-24 lead. The Bears forced a key stop and took over at the Colorado 24-yard line with just over three minutes remaining but couldn't connect on the game-clinching field goal, with the Buffs then driving as time expired for the hail mary attempt to force overtime. After scoring on their first possesion, the Bears fumbled while crossing the endzone, with the ball skidding out of the back of the endzone and the Colorado fans rushing the field.
• Baylor totaled eight sacks, its most since the 2021 Sugar Bowl, and finished with 314 total yards of offense with Colorado throwing for 341 yards and totaling 432 yards of offense. Robertson threw two TDs on 148 yards passing, one to Presley and Monaray Baldwin. Shedeur Sanders threw for 341 yards and two scores and Travis Hunter caught seven balls for 130 yards.
SERIES HISTORY
• Colorado leads the all-time series with Baylor, 10-7, including a 4-2 mark in games played in Waco.
• This marks the second meeting between the two schools since Colorado joined the Big 12 Conference.
• The most recent meeting was a thriller in Boulder, a two-overtime setback for the Bears that saw Colorado force overtime with a last second hail mary touchdown and eventual Heisman winner Travis Hunter forced a fumble while Dominic Richardson was crossing the goal line in the second overtime period.
CONNECTING THE TEAMS
• The Bears feature a pair of former Buffs on its 2026 roster, including WR Dre'lon Miller and eighth-year offensive lineman Cooper Lovelace.
• Miller played in 18 games with 10 starts for CU over his 2024-25 seasons in Boulder, with 376 yards and three TDs receiving and 144 yards and a score rushing. Lovelace was on the 2025 CU roster after transferring from Northwestern USC and Butler CC.
• Colorado boasts a former Bear on its roster in Samu Taumanuepepe, a fourth year defensive lineman, who played on the BU roster in 2025 as a reserve. A 6-foot-3, 375-pounder, he had two tackles and played in six games in 2025 for the Bears, and has played in two games with three tackles for CU in 2026.
BEARS ROLL LA TECH
• Baylor cruised to a 36-19 win over Louisiana Tech to conclude the regular-season, non-conference schedule. The Bears turned to Nate Bennett for a second straight game in relief of QB DJ Lagway, with Bennett accounting for four TDs, including three passing and one rushing, throwing for 253 yards on 21-of-24 passing.
• Freshman Ryelan Morris led the team with 55 rushing yards, with Dawson Pendergrass adding 46 yards and a score, Caden Knighten chipping in 10 carries for 42 yards and Michael Turner having eight carries for 25 yards. WR Gavin Freeman had seven catches for 47 yards, while Louis Brown IV and Jayden McGowan each had two catches for 79 yards, with Brown owning a TD and McGowan a pair of TDs for the second straight game.
• The Bears owned a 29-7 lead in the third quarter but a pair of LA Tech TDs narrowed the score before the second Bennett TD pass to McGowan stretched it to 36-19 with 4:10 left. Baylor accounted for 418 yards of total offense, with LA Tech owning 362 yards.
FREEMAN FINDING HOME
• Baylor WR Gavin Freeman is off to a historic start to the 2026 season in his debut season for the Bears after transferring from Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
• He had 12 catches for 154 yards and a TD in the opener vs. Auburn and 10 catches for 104 yards - including 92 yards after the catch - in the win over PVAMU. He led the team with seven catches in the win over LA Tech.
• Freeman has had back-to-back 10+ and 100+ yard games to open his BU career and ranks among the nation leaders in yards (15th), yards per game (13th) and receptions per game (first).
NEXT UP
• Baylor will hit the road for its first true road game of the year, venturing to face Arizona State on Oct. 3 in Tempe, with ASU coming off an idle week following a 24-17 win over Kansas in London.
The ESPN2 broadcast crew will feature Lowell Galindo (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst) and Dawn Davenport (sideline) on the call. The Baylor Sports Network will be voiced by John Morris (play-by-play), Geff Gandy (analyst) and Bryson Jackson (sideline).
The game will be presented by TFNB Your Bank for Life and is dubbed Baylor's throwback game, honoring Colorado's first trip to Waco since 2007. The first 5,000 fans will receive a limited Bruiser bobblehead, the Bears will wear a special throwback jersey for the matchup and there will be a post-game concert by Texas country legend Pat Green.
The Bears have won two of their first three games to open the year, including two straight at McLane Stadium, including a rout of defending SWAC Champion Prairie View A&M and a win over Louisiana Tech, a team that won eight games last year, on Saturday, 36-19.
This will be the first meeting with Colorado since a two-overtime thriller in Boulder in 2024, a CU win.
SCOUTING THE BUFFS
• Colorado is led by fourth-year head coach Deion Sanders, who took over the program after a historic run at Jackson State, where he went 27-6 in three seasons with a pair of Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships, including an 11-2 mark in 2021 and a 12-1 record in 2022. Sanders is one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of sport, as a former two-time All-American two-way player at Florida State, winning the Thorpe Award in 1988 and set the FSU record with 14 career interceptions, with three going to the house. He played in the NFL from 1989-2005 with 53 interceptions, while also catching 60 passes for 784 yards and three TDs as a WR. He had 19 career TDs on returns and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 after his 14-year NFL career with nine All-Pro selections. Beyond his football career, Sanders was a sixth-round MLB Draft pick who played 11 seasons in pro baseball. Sanders led the Buffs to a 9-4 record and a 7-2 mark in the Big 12 Conference in 2024 under the direction of eventual Heisman winner Travis Hunter and his son, QB Shedeur Sanders. CU went 3-9 last year, and 1-8 in league play.
• CU's offensive coordinator is Brennan Marion, in his first year after serving as the head coach of Sacramento State in 2025, leading the Hornets to a 7-5 record while averaging 33.8 points per game. His offense is dubbed the "go-go" offense and was built over two seasons as the OC at UNLV (2023-24), which followed a 2022 season as the WR coach at Texas, a 2021 season as the WR coach at Pitt, and a 2020 season as the WR coach at Hawaii. A former record-setting WR at Tulsa, Marion was the 2007 C-USA Newcomer of the Year and finished his career with 2,356 yards and 19 TDs. Chris Marve is CU's defensive coordinator in 2026, and came to the Buffs after serving as Virginia Tech's DC from 2022-24, which followed time working with LBs at Florida State (2020-21), Mississippi State 2019). He starred at Vanderbilt, earning All-Southeastern Conference honors four times and finishing his career with 397 tackles and 30 TFLs.
• The Buffs opened the season with a pair of wins, outlasting Georgia Tech 14-13 in Atlanta on Sept. 3, before routing Weber State on Sept. 12, 52-21. The win over Georgia Tech featured a 75-yard drive with just 37 seconds remaining that gave CU a 14-13 lead. Lamont Lester Jr. had three sacks and 3.5 TFLs in the win to pace a strong defensive effort. In the win over Weber State, QB Julian Lewis threw for 366 yards and four TDs and Micah Welch rushed 11 times for 106 yards and a score, with WR Joseph Williams and Deandre Moore Jr. each owning over 100 yards receiving and three TDs combined.
• Colorado suffered a 41-7 rout at the hands of Northwestern in Chicago on Saturday, with the Wildcats jumping out to a quick 21 points in the first half and stretching it to 41-7 into the fourth quarter. Northwestern totaled 423 yards of total offense vs. Colorado's 348, with the Buffs rushing for 180 yards and throwing for 168. JaQuil Smith had eight carries for 91 yards and Lewis was 19-for-29 with a TD and two picks.
• As a team, CU averages 24.3 points, including 10.5 points vs. FBS foes, with 230 yards passing, 181 rushing and 411 yards per game. Defensively, CU is allowing just 361 yards per game, with 118.3 rushing and 242.7 passing. Randon Fontenette leads the team with 24 tackles, 1.5 TFLs and an interception. Lester has six TFLs and four sacks. Lewis is 50-for-79 with six TDs and two interceptions, with Williams leading the team with 234 yards receiving, and Welch paces the team with 178 yards rushing.
• Fernando Lovo is in his first year as the AD at Colorado, taking over in Boulder following a successful run at New Mexico from 2024-25. He perviously worked at Texas, including a Senior Associate AD role in facilities and later operations.
LAST MEETING WITH BUFFS
• Baylor fell in an overtime thriller at Colorado in its Big 12 opener, 38-31 in a wild game that saw the Buffs tie the game on a hail mary as regulation expired and then win it after a game-tying touchdown attempt saw BU fumble while crossing the goal line out of the endzone.
• Baylor opened up a 24-10 lead and was poised for a 31-10 lead but a dropped potential touchdown kept the Buffs in the game before half and cut the lead to 24-17. The Bears saw Colorado even the game late in the third quarter at 24-24 before responding on a 61-yard drive that finished with a Sawyer Robertson TD pass to Hal Presley with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter, owning a 31-24 lead. The Bears forced a key stop and took over at the Colorado 24-yard line with just over three minutes remaining but couldn't connect on the game-clinching field goal, with the Buffs then driving as time expired for the hail mary attempt to force overtime. After scoring on their first possesion, the Bears fumbled while crossing the endzone, with the ball skidding out of the back of the endzone and the Colorado fans rushing the field.
• Baylor totaled eight sacks, its most since the 2021 Sugar Bowl, and finished with 314 total yards of offense with Colorado throwing for 341 yards and totaling 432 yards of offense. Robertson threw two TDs on 148 yards passing, one to Presley and Monaray Baldwin. Shedeur Sanders threw for 341 yards and two scores and Travis Hunter caught seven balls for 130 yards.
SERIES HISTORY
• Colorado leads the all-time series with Baylor, 10-7, including a 4-2 mark in games played in Waco.
• This marks the second meeting between the two schools since Colorado joined the Big 12 Conference.
• The most recent meeting was a thriller in Boulder, a two-overtime setback for the Bears that saw Colorado force overtime with a last second hail mary touchdown and eventual Heisman winner Travis Hunter forced a fumble while Dominic Richardson was crossing the goal line in the second overtime period.
CONNECTING THE TEAMS
• The Bears feature a pair of former Buffs on its 2026 roster, including WR Dre'lon Miller and eighth-year offensive lineman Cooper Lovelace.
• Miller played in 18 games with 10 starts for CU over his 2024-25 seasons in Boulder, with 376 yards and three TDs receiving and 144 yards and a score rushing. Lovelace was on the 2025 CU roster after transferring from Northwestern USC and Butler CC.
• Colorado boasts a former Bear on its roster in Samu Taumanuepepe, a fourth year defensive lineman, who played on the BU roster in 2025 as a reserve. A 6-foot-3, 375-pounder, he had two tackles and played in six games in 2025 for the Bears, and has played in two games with three tackles for CU in 2026.
BEARS ROLL LA TECH
• Baylor cruised to a 36-19 win over Louisiana Tech to conclude the regular-season, non-conference schedule. The Bears turned to Nate Bennett for a second straight game in relief of QB DJ Lagway, with Bennett accounting for four TDs, including three passing and one rushing, throwing for 253 yards on 21-of-24 passing.
• Freshman Ryelan Morris led the team with 55 rushing yards, with Dawson Pendergrass adding 46 yards and a score, Caden Knighten chipping in 10 carries for 42 yards and Michael Turner having eight carries for 25 yards. WR Gavin Freeman had seven catches for 47 yards, while Louis Brown IV and Jayden McGowan each had two catches for 79 yards, with Brown owning a TD and McGowan a pair of TDs for the second straight game.
• The Bears owned a 29-7 lead in the third quarter but a pair of LA Tech TDs narrowed the score before the second Bennett TD pass to McGowan stretched it to 36-19 with 4:10 left. Baylor accounted for 418 yards of total offense, with LA Tech owning 362 yards.
FREEMAN FINDING HOME
• Baylor WR Gavin Freeman is off to a historic start to the 2026 season in his debut season for the Bears after transferring from Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
• He had 12 catches for 154 yards and a TD in the opener vs. Auburn and 10 catches for 104 yards - including 92 yards after the catch - in the win over PVAMU. He led the team with seven catches in the win over LA Tech.
• Freeman has had back-to-back 10+ and 100+ yard games to open his BU career and ranks among the nation leaders in yards (15th), yards per game (13th) and receptions per game (first).
NEXT UP
• Baylor will hit the road for its first true road game of the year, venturing to face Arizona State on Oct. 3 in Tempe, with ASU coming off an idle week following a 24-17 win over Kansas in London.
- BaylorBears.com -
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