The Washington State Cougars entered Saturday's contest against the Colorado Buffaloes looking for a win in their first Pac-12 contest of the season. With 3:00 left in the game, they faced a 10-point deficit. By the time the clock struck 00:00, the Cougars had scraped together an improbable 31-27 victory to get their first Pac-12 win of the year.
The Cougars struck early, overcoming an early interception by quarterback Marshall Lobbestael by getting the ball back and scoring on a two-yard run by running back Carl Winston. The Buffaloes responded with 13 of the next 16 points scored though, and the Cougars found themselves entering the locker room at halftime down 13-10.
The third quarter saw both teams score one touchdown each to maintain the point differential of three, and the Cougars punted at the beginning of the fourth on 4th-and-6. Colorado took advantage of both the scoreboard and the clock by using a long, six-minute drive that featured lots of running to score and take a 27-17 lead.
The Cougars then staged a fantastic comeback, beginning with Lobbestael's 19-yard touchdown pass to Isiah Barton to pull within 27-24 with 2:35 left in the game. The Washington State defense forced a punt less than 30 seconds later, and the offense took the field with 2:03 left in the game.
From there, Lobbestael found Marquess Wilson for a 63-yard touchdown strike with 1:10 left to give the Cougars a 31-27 lead. Any chance that the Buffaloes had of scoring was squashed by a fumble, giving the Cougars the ball back and letting them run out the clock.
The Cougars miraculously turned a 10-point deficit with 3:00 left into a four-point victory. Lobbestael, who came up big during that span, finished the day with 376 passing yards, three touchdowns, and one interception on 32-of-49 passing. The Cougars also got tremendous production out of Wilson, who finished the day with 121 yards and one touchdown on six receptions.
The Cougars move to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in Pac-12 play. They face the UCLA Bruins on the road next week.