ATLANTA — Colorado ran the ball 15 straight times. 

Yes, that actually happened Thursday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

For the first time in the Deion Sanders era, the ground game led the way to a 14-13 victory at Georgia Tech. For once, the offensive line was dominating the line of scrimmage, and it wasn’t all on the quarterback to make inventive plays like Shedeur Sanders often did in 2023 and 2024. Multiple running backs flashed an ability to read correctly and run through holes with authority.

It’s only one game, but the biggest difference about the 2026 Buffaloes? They might just have an elite rushing attack capable of carrying the offensive load. 

“Well, you’re talking about another team that’s also a physical team,” Sanders said. “They have a head coach (Brent Key) who is a big (offensive and defensive) line guy. Like, he doesn’t play about the front. So to go out there and do this when you guys were talking about the run, and (that) we’re a small team, which I don’t know where that came from, but you’re certainly happy with the results.”

The results — after the madness of the final few minutes wore off — were staggering.

CU ran the ball 49 times for 183 yards, the third most in the Coach Prime era. Three different players had at least 40 rushing yards, also just the third time that’s happened since the start of 2023.

Damian Henderson II, a former Colorado State player who came with offensive coordinator Brennan Marion this offseason, led the way with 65 yards on 12 carries. Junior Micah Welch added 58 yards on 13 attempts in his first college game back in his home state of Georgia. Sacramento State transfer JaQuail Smith had 42 yards on 10 carries.

Oh, and don’t forget veteran DeKalon Taylor, who is mostly used as a receiver out of the backfield but had arguably the biggest run of the night as his 16-yard gain in the final minute set up the go-ahead touchdown on the next play.

With quarterback Julian Lewis and the passing game struggling for large stretches, it felt like the Buffs couldn’t run enough — and there was little Georgia Tech could do to stop it.

“We wish we could have scored a few more times there, but it was good to be able to run the ball and really just, I mean, call the same thing and just keep going and grinding it out,” tight end Charlie Williams said.

Even though CU has ranked near the bottom of the country in rushing for the first three years of the Coach Prime era, there were signs this year would be different. Marion is a play-caller with a track record of success running the ball, including just last year when his team ranked second in the FCS in rushing yards per game.

“What happens when the passing game is not working? You got to go with what you know,” Sanders said. “We know we’re big up front. We know we could be physical. We know these guys can move bodies, so that’s what we went with.”

Sanders now knows he has four, even five, running backs capable of getting the job done, giving his Buffs an offensive identity they haven’t had during his tenure. 

“They played some good football,” Sanders said. “Physical, elusive.”