Colorado Gives Thanks To Lady Luck Buffaloes Score 10 Late Points To Rally Past Wyoming, 20-19

Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel believes in creating luck. It worked big time for the Buffaloes Saturday.

Ben Kelly returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and Jeremy Aldrich kicked an 18-yard field goal with 3 seconds left as 16th-ranked Colorado came from behind to defeat Wyoming 20-19.

Kelly’s kickoff return came with 4:10 left in the game and Wyoming (3-2) apparently headed to victory following an 18-yard touchdown run by Marques Brigham that put the Western Athletic Conference Cowboys ahead 19-10.

An onside kick failed following Kelly’s dramatic return, giving the ball to the Cowboys at their 44 with less than 3 minutes to go.

But a minute later, the Buffaloes’ Mike Phillips hit Brigham on a play up the middle, causing a fumble, and Ron Merkerson recovered the ball in the air, returning it 33 yards to the Wyoming 25.

“Sometimes you get lucky,” Neuheisel said. “But I think we created our own luck. We returned special teams, and I think it paid off with a great kickoff return by Ben Kelly. We worked hard on defense in stripping the ball and that certainly paid off with Mike Phillips’ strip, and Ron Merkerson picking up the fumble and getting us into range.”

Phillips said he saw Brigham holding “the ball out there real loose, and I just popped my hand in there.”

After Merkerson’s fumble return, John Hessler passed 21 yards to Darrin Chiaverini to the Wyoming 1 with 1:06 left. Wyoming held the Buffaloes (2-1) out of the end zone on three plunges into the line before Aldrich made the game-ending field goal.

“Although we struggled offensively, we were able to make a big play to get Chiaverini down into field-goal range,” Neuheisel said. “And Jeremy Aldridge knocked it through, and it was a great victory.”

Aldrich had kicked a 32-yard field goal in the second quarter to give the Buffaloes of the Big 12 Conference a 10-9 lead.

Cory Wedell provided all the Wyoming points on four field goals before Brigham’s TD run gave the Cowboys a nine-point cushion with 4:29 left.

Nineteen seconds later, however, Kelly had crossed the goal line on the stunning return that was set up by several key blocks between the 30 and 50.

“Aaron Marshall was the guy who made the last block,” Kelly said. “I slowed up and set up the blocking, and he just busted the blocking for me.”

“We had them on the ropes,” said Wyoming linebacker Jim Talich, who had nine tackles in the game. “We had them beat. All we needed was to execute the plays late in the game and we would have won. We just needed to finish the job, but the breaks didn’t go our way.”

Colorado plays at home against Texas A&M next Saturday.