November 02, 2026 | Football
The Walk-Off The Buffs Hadn't Seen Since 1994
BOULDER -- Charlie Williams was targeted once on Saturday. He caught it, and the game was over.
The fourth-year tight end's 11-yard touchdown catch on third-and-9 in overtime beat Kansas State 27-24 and ended the game on the spot — Colorado's first touchdown reception on the final play of a game since the Miracle at Michigan, Kordell Stewart's 64-yard Hail Mary to Michael Westbrook at Michigan on Sept. 24, 1994.
It was also Williams' second touchdown of the season. His first, a 20-yard catch from Julian Lewis with 37 seconds left at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3, won the opener 14-13.
Two touchdowns. Two game-winners.
"We kind of play the whole game," Williams said. "It's hard, because we're not really as involved in the pass game, because we've got guys like Joe (Joseph Williams) and D-Mo (DeAndre Moore Jr.) to do it all. But we kind of stay ready. We always know that we have an opportunity, so when that comes, we're ready to make a play on it."
The Rarest Kind of Touchdown
Colorado's history is full of late touchdown catches that decided games. Very few of them were the last play. Westbrook's in Ann Arbor was one — a 27-26 win with no time on the clock that helped define an era. In the 32 seasons since, the Buffaloes had won on field goals as time expired and on touchdowns with seconds left, but not on a touchdown catch that ended the game.
Saturday's came in a different format. Overtime has no clock, so the game ended the moment Williams crossed the goal line. Kansas State had kicked a 25-yard field goal on the first possession of the extra period; Colorado needed a touchdown to win or a field goal to extend. Richard Young ran for 9 and 4 to open the possession. JaQuail Smith was stopped for nothing on second down. Kansas State called timeout.
Third-and-9 from the 11.
"Coach Marion wanted to pound the rock," quarterback Isaac Wilson said. "First play, we got nine yards, almost a first down. So he just kept rolling with it, and it was setting it up. It set it up. We had a little tight end pop pass off of it, and my only job was to hold this backside safety. He crept in a little bit, but I knew I was throwing that ball, and Charlie made a hell of a catch."
Williams described it from the other end.
"Throughout the game, we're running the ball a lot, so the defense is always expecting us to kind of give it to the back there," he said. "So on that play, we're doing a little pop pass — we're faking the run and then popping it over. So we knew we were ready for that, and it was good for it to get called at the end."
Colorado had run the ball 14 straight times in the fourth quarter without a pass attempt, then twice more to open overtime. Sixteen consecutive runs set up one throw.
"We ran that play all week in practice, so when that gets called, we're ready for it," Williams said. "There's really no blinking at all."
Trust, Built in Practice
The connection wasn't flawless all week — which made the moment land harder.
"We had a little miscommunication," Wilson said. "But he knows that I'm always going to come back to him, and that's just the team love that we have, the camaraderie — that I can trust anyone out on that field if they're coming out with me."
Williams said the same thing about his quarterback, unprompted.
"He won't give up on you," he said. "Like he said, when we were in practice, we missed a few plays that we should hit, and then he came back like he needed to. So it was good."
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders singled out the throw as the best of Wilson's turnover-free afternoon — "made some great throws, especially the last one" — in a game Sanders said was defined by the running attack taking the pressure off his quarterback.
Williams was part of that, too. Colorado ran 222 yards' worth of offense on the ground, much of it out of three-tight-end personnel, and the tight ends knew coming in that blocking would be most of their day.
"We knew we were going to be in a lot of 13 personnel, so three tight ends out there," Williams said. "So we knew we were going to run the ball. We know that we're a big part of this offense. We're kind of the Swiss Army knife. We're going to motion around, do our thing."
From Aspen, The Long Way
Williams is from Aspen, which makes him one of the few Buffs who can say the game-winner came in front of a home crowd in more than one sense. He left Colorado for prep school — The Governor's Academy in Massachusetts, then a postgraduate year at IMG Academy in Florida — signed with UNLV, redshirted there in 2023 and transferred to Colorado in 2024 without having played a college snap.
He did not play in 2024, either. His collegiate debut came on special teams against Arizona State in Week 11 of the 2025 season — 20 snaps across two games on kickoff and kickoff return.
Then, in the first game of 2026, he caught the pass that won it in Atlanta. On Saturday, he caught the pass that won it in Boulder.
He has six catches for 81 yards this season, and the two touchdowns are the two he has to his name. Saturday's was his first reception since the Texas Tech game on Oct. 3 — he opened the month with a catch and closed it with the one that ended the game.
"Our fan base is great," Williams said. "To even have them just come on the field at the end was great. We love it. It was kind of crazy, because the goalposts started coming down. I was like, 'All right, they're storming the field.'"
The Georgia Tech touchdown came on the road, in front of a stunned crowd. This one came with 46,327 at Folsom Field pouring onto the grass behind him.
Scoring When it Counts
Colorado has scored 24, 24 and 27 points in its last three games, and Williams said the offense is beginning to find itself.
"We're starting to get in a groove," he said. "We're practicing a lot better. There's a lot more energy, and we're kind of finding our identity on offense, and we're able to make plays when they count. But we want to score every drive. That's our goal. We meet after every drive, whether that ends in a score or whatever — it doesn't matter. We like what we do. We always know that we're going to be able to finish the game with points, and that's the goal."
Twice this season, the finishing has fallen to a tight end who spends most of his snaps blocking and most of his games waiting.
"We always know that we have an opportunity," Williams said. "So when that comes, we're ready to make a play on it."
Two opportunities. Two catches. Two wins.
The fourth-year tight end's 11-yard touchdown catch on third-and-9 in overtime beat Kansas State 27-24 and ended the game on the spot — Colorado's first touchdown reception on the final play of a game since the Miracle at Michigan, Kordell Stewart's 64-yard Hail Mary to Michael Westbrook at Michigan on Sept. 24, 1994.
It was also Williams' second touchdown of the season. His first, a 20-yard catch from Julian Lewis with 37 seconds left at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3, won the opener 14-13.
Two touchdowns. Two game-winners.
"We kind of play the whole game," Williams said. "It's hard, because we're not really as involved in the pass game, because we've got guys like Joe (Joseph Williams) and D-Mo (DeAndre Moore Jr.) to do it all. But we kind of stay ready. We always know that we have an opportunity, so when that comes, we're ready to make a play on it."
The Rarest Kind of Touchdown
Colorado's history is full of late touchdown catches that decided games. Very few of them were the last play. Westbrook's in Ann Arbor was one — a 27-26 win with no time on the clock that helped define an era. In the 32 seasons since, the Buffaloes had won on field goals as time expired and on touchdowns with seconds left, but not on a touchdown catch that ended the game.
Saturday's came in a different format. Overtime has no clock, so the game ended the moment Williams crossed the goal line. Kansas State had kicked a 25-yard field goal on the first possession of the extra period; Colorado needed a touchdown to win or a field goal to extend. Richard Young ran for 9 and 4 to open the possession. JaQuail Smith was stopped for nothing on second down. Kansas State called timeout.
Third-and-9 from the 11.
"Coach Marion wanted to pound the rock," quarterback Isaac Wilson said. "First play, we got nine yards, almost a first down. So he just kept rolling with it, and it was setting it up. It set it up. We had a little tight end pop pass off of it, and my only job was to hold this backside safety. He crept in a little bit, but I knew I was throwing that ball, and Charlie made a hell of a catch."
Williams described it from the other end.
"Throughout the game, we're running the ball a lot, so the defense is always expecting us to kind of give it to the back there," he said. "So on that play, we're doing a little pop pass — we're faking the run and then popping it over. So we knew we were ready for that, and it was good for it to get called at the end."
Colorado had run the ball 14 straight times in the fourth quarter without a pass attempt, then twice more to open overtime. Sixteen consecutive runs set up one throw.
"We ran that play all week in practice, so when that gets called, we're ready for it," Williams said. "There's really no blinking at all."
Trust, Built in Practice
The connection wasn't flawless all week — which made the moment land harder.
"We had a little miscommunication," Wilson said. "But he knows that I'm always going to come back to him, and that's just the team love that we have, the camaraderie — that I can trust anyone out on that field if they're coming out with me."
Williams said the same thing about his quarterback, unprompted.
"He won't give up on you," he said. "Like he said, when we were in practice, we missed a few plays that we should hit, and then he came back like he needed to. So it was good."
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders singled out the throw as the best of Wilson's turnover-free afternoon — "made some great throws, especially the last one" — in a game Sanders said was defined by the running attack taking the pressure off his quarterback.
Williams was part of that, too. Colorado ran 222 yards' worth of offense on the ground, much of it out of three-tight-end personnel, and the tight ends knew coming in that blocking would be most of their day.
"We knew we were going to be in a lot of 13 personnel, so three tight ends out there," Williams said. "So we knew we were going to run the ball. We know that we're a big part of this offense. We're kind of the Swiss Army knife. We're going to motion around, do our thing."
From Aspen, The Long Way
Williams is from Aspen, which makes him one of the few Buffs who can say the game-winner came in front of a home crowd in more than one sense. He left Colorado for prep school — The Governor's Academy in Massachusetts, then a postgraduate year at IMG Academy in Florida — signed with UNLV, redshirted there in 2023 and transferred to Colorado in 2024 without having played a college snap.
He did not play in 2024, either. His collegiate debut came on special teams against Arizona State in Week 11 of the 2025 season — 20 snaps across two games on kickoff and kickoff return.
Then, in the first game of 2026, he caught the pass that won it in Atlanta. On Saturday, he caught the pass that won it in Boulder.
He has six catches for 81 yards this season, and the two touchdowns are the two he has to his name. Saturday's was his first reception since the Texas Tech game on Oct. 3 — he opened the month with a catch and closed it with the one that ended the game.
"Our fan base is great," Williams said. "To even have them just come on the field at the end was great. We love it. It was kind of crazy, because the goalposts started coming down. I was like, 'All right, they're storming the field.'"
The Georgia Tech touchdown came on the road, in front of a stunned crowd. This one came with 46,327 at Folsom Field pouring onto the grass behind him.
Scoring When it Counts
Colorado has scored 24, 24 and 27 points in its last three games, and Williams said the offense is beginning to find itself.
"We're starting to get in a groove," he said. "We're practicing a lot better. There's a lot more energy, and we're kind of finding our identity on offense, and we're able to make plays when they count. But we want to score every drive. That's our goal. We meet after every drive, whether that ends in a score or whatever — it doesn't matter. We like what we do. We always know that we're going to be able to finish the game with points, and that's the goal."
Twice this season, the finishing has fallen to a tight end who spends most of his snaps blocking and most of his games waiting.
"We always know that we have an opportunity," Williams said. "So when that comes, we're ready to make a play on it."
Two opportunities. Two catches. Two wins.
Players Mentioned
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