​Colorado coach Deion Sanders needed this one even if he wouldn’t admit it afterward.After losing five games in a row, his Colorado football team looked like its season might swirl down the toilet like it did last year.This was their best chance to stop it. They played at home against a Kansas State that was decimated by injuries at quarterback.And they won, barely — 27-24 in overtime.“I don’t know what the definition of desperation is,” Sanders said in his postgame news conference. “I don’t think these young men are desperate.”College football analysis: Notre Dame’s wobbly resume, Indiana’s QB worriesSanders then turned to this players in the room and asked them, “Are y’all desperate?”“We’re not,” Sanders said. “It ain’t no desperation. It may be to you, but it’s not desperation to them. The main thing I told them to do is go out there and have fun today. And it’s impossible to have fun when you’re getting your butt kicked, right? I ain’t never had fun getting my butt kicked.”They almost got their butts kicked in the end after giving up a 21-14 lead in the final seconds of regulation. But they answered Kansas State’s first score in overtime — a 25-yard field goal — by walking off with an 11-yard touchdown pass to win the game. Quarterback Isaac Wilson threw it over the middle to walk-on tight end Charlie Williams on the final play, leading Colorado students to storm the field afterward in Halloween costumes.Field level view of the winning TD catch by Charlie Williams! pic.twitter.com/T1XZKAX28M— Colorado Football/Basketball Radio Network (@CURadioNetwork) October 31, 2026“It kind of just felt like a dark cloud over this place, you know?” Colorado safety Randon Fontenette said. Fontenette called it a “huge relief” to finally win.Colorado honors Julian Lewis and Dominiq PonderColorado players also said they hung on for two big reasons: quarterback Julian Lewis, who didn’t play after recently being taken to the hospital with a medical emergency, and quarterback Dominiq Ponder, who died in a car accident in March.“We love them,” Colorado linebacker Gideon Lampron said. “Those are our guys, and we’re always gonna play hard for them.At one point with 1:59 left in regulation, Colorado offensive tackle Bo Hughley held up a T-shirt that said “Do it for Dom,” a reference to Ponder. Sanders was touched by it. “He took it into the huddle, and I called him over,” Sanders said of Hughley. “I said, ‘Man, you just broke me.'”The win for Colorado marked only its second victory out of its past 15 games against Big 12 opponents. The Buffaloes are now 3-5 this season heading into their next game Nov. 7 at Arizona State.How Colorado and Deion Sanders won this gameColorado rushed for 222 yards, the first time since 2021 that the Buffs rushed for at least 200 yards. Alabama transfer Richard Young had 120 of those yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns in his first opportunity as Colorado’s lead ru