Colorado opened its home schedule Saturday with Weber State, a first meeting that carried far more weight for the Colorado Buffaloes than the five-touchdown spread suggested. The Buffs, coming off a win at Georgia Tech, hosted the Weber State Wildcats at Folsom Field with kickoff set for 1:30 p.m. MT.
The game mattered because it was Colorado’s first home date of the 2026 slate and because the Buffs had already sold 45,000 tickets by noon Friday for a stadium that holds 50,183. Colorado entered 1-0, while Weber State arrived 1-1 after a narrow opener at Northern Colorado and a 47-42 loss at Southern Utah. That made Weber State vs Colorado less about the gap on paper than the risk of a letdown in front of a full house.
Deion Sanders did not pretend the challenge was only about size or speed. He said players on a team like Weber State are chasing attention for several reasons, including a chance to prove they belong and to put themselves in front of Power Four teams. Sanders said he loves that challenge, and he kept returning to the part that can trip up a favorite in a game like this: “I’m pretty good at understanding the details, getting them to lock in,” he said, adding that Colorado had to recognize “how vital special teams is.”
That was not abstract talk. Weber State won its opener on Aug. 29 under new coach Eric Kjar when it batted down an extra-point with three seconds left for a one-point win, then gave up 656 rushing yards through two games. Kjar’s first game on the sideline already had the kind of finish coaches remember, and for some Wildcats, a matchup against a Power Four program offered a chance to leave a mark that could matter beyond one Saturday. Sanders also said, “We don’t take plays off,” a line that fit a Colorado team trying to avoid the kind of mental lapse that can turn a heavy favorite into a live story.
For Colorado, the question was never whether the Buffs belonged in the game. It was whether they could treat a lopsided home opener like a business trip, clean up the details that lingered after Georgia Tech and leave Weber State with no opening to turn discipline into drama.
