Leading Off: Garcia Joins Yankees-red Sox Rivalry, Votto Run

BOULDER — LaJohntay Wester knows college football heartbreak. Wester had a fantastic career at Florida Atlantic, but he’s watched his Owls lose on a walk-off field goal in El Paso. He watched another team celebrate bowl eligibility on the final game of a lost season. Now Wester knows pure, uncut college football joy. Wester was on the receiving end of what instantly becomes one of the most famous passes in Colorado football history Saturday night.

The Colorado Rapids are headed to the playoffs. Reggie Cannon scored a goal in his first home match with the Rapids and Djordje Mihailovic netted a penalty kick goal in stoppage time as Colorado took down Toronto FC 2-0 at a rainy Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night. The win clinched the Rapids’ first MLS Cup Playoffs berth since finishing atop the table in the Western Conference in 2021.

The Colorado Buffaloes beat the Baylor Bears after an improbable last second desperation touchdown pass to force overtime at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. The Buffaloes scored on their opening overtime possession and forced a Bears fumble to win the game. Related Articles College Sports | LaJohntay Wester etches name in CU Buffs football history with Hail Mary from Shedeur Sanders: “There’s nothing like it.” College Sports | Keeler: Travis Hunter does it again!

BOULDER — The road runs through Ralphie. Deion Sanders’ Buffs get Kansas State at home in three weeks. Over a 15-day span in late November, they’ll host Utah and Oklahoma State. The Big 12’s path to the College Football Playoff turns left off the turnpike and right into the sure hands of Travis Hunter. “The good news for CU is, you do have the power brokers largely at home,” Fox Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Brock Huard told me before the Buffs kicked off with Baylor in a homecoming tussle at Folsom Field on Saturday night.

The Colorado School of Mines football team continues to live dangerously on the road. For the second week in a row, the Orediggers held off a fourth-quarter rally as Devyn Lauer-Duarte’s interception sealed a 13-12 win over Chadron State in both teams’ RMAC opener Saturday in Chadron, Neb. Chadron State got a pair of field goals in the final frame to pull within a point with 5:19 to go, but the fourth-ranked Orediggers (3-0, 1-0 RMAC) ground out a 10-play, 44-yard drive that chewed up 4 minutes, 56 seconds of clock.

It’s probably not hyperbole to say that Alexandar Georgiev reached a crossroads in his Colorado Avalanche tenure during those 48 hours between the end of Game 1 and the start of Game 2 of an opening-round series in Winnipeg last spring. Georgiev, fresh off an undesirable finish to an up-and-down season, allowed seven goals on 23 shots in a wild 7-6 loss at Canada Life Centre.