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BOULDER — endured a broken foot, losses that piled to the peaks of the Flatirons, the courting of a potential replacement and an ankle injury that robbed him of a quarter of his senior season.

All the while Liufau faced doubts about whether he, when CU was finally ready to climb, would be the quarterback to lead the charge.

Now he has put the Buffaloes to the doorstep of a championship. Let the dreams keep rising.

“It really means almost everything to me that he’s been able to be the one to do it,” CU coach said of Liufau. “I said for a long time, and I don’t think many people believed me, that once our team caught up with Sefo we would be successful.”

Liufau, CU’s senior heart and soul, saved the best game of his career for its biggest stage, leading No. 12 Colorado to a 38-24 victory over No. 20 on Saturday at Folsom Field that puts the Buffaloes to within one victory of the Pac-12 South title.

Liufau completed 27-of-41 passes for 345 yards and ran for a career-high 108 yards and three scores, thrilling a crowd of聽48,658 that was the largest in MacIntyre’s four seasons as coach.

“Whatever journey or path we were going to go on, I just wanted to be a part of it,” Liufau said, in reference to an offseason of uncertainty as he recovered from surgery and CU brought in graduate transfer Davis Webb, who eventually went to Cal. “I’m ecstatic.”

CU (9-2, 7-1), which has won five consecutive games and nine games for the first time since 2002, actually has a chance to win the division title late Saturday night. With Utah falling to Oregon earlier in the day, a loss by USC to UCLA in a late-night matchup will give the Buffs the South crown and a spot in the Pac-12 championship game Dec. 2.

A Trojans victory would mean CU would need to beat rival Utah in the regular-season finale at home to achieve a dream that seemed so outlandish when it began being muttered by the Buffs this season.

Yet when plunged into the end zone from 13 yards out, putting CU up 38-24 with only 4:18 remaining, Folsom shook and the trophy the Buffs have endured so much to hold came creeping into view.

And when recovered a fumble with 2:58 left, after a sack by , the party was on. The unthinkable had come into focus.

“Our team has such great character and fortitude that they just kept fighting,” MacIntyre said. “They don’t blink. They just kept playing.”

Liufau’s 11-yard touchdown run with 30 seconds left in the third quarter put the Buffs up 28-24 in back-and-forth affair that fitted the two upstart division leaders in the Pac-12. The Buffs’ read-option play continually punished the Cougars. If Liufau wasn’t taking it himself, he was handing off to Lindsay, who ran for 144 yards and went over 1,000 yards for the season and 2,000 for his career.

After Liufau’s run, Washington State drove to the CU 18-yard line. On fourth-and-4, WSU quarterback Luke Falk threw a pass toward the sideline for Kyle Sweet. But Nick Fisher, a sophomore who was thrust into action when starting safety was ejected for targeting in the first quarter, tackled Sweet just before the first-down line, giving the ball back to CU.

“The turning point in the game,” MacIntyre called it.

Liufau again drove the Buffs into WSU territory, but on a run that put him over 100 yards for the first time in his career, he suffered a hip injury and headed to the locker room. The drive stalled, but backup kicker nailed a 46-yard field goal to give CU a 31-24 lead.

On a day when the Washington State offensive line frustrated CU, Gillam finally broke through on the Cougars’ next drive for a third-down sack that opened the door for Lindsay’s clinching score.

“We knew if we did our job we’d be able to win the game,” said CU cornerback , who helped the Buffs hold Washington State scoreless for the final 18 minutes of the game.

Washington State (8-3, 7-1) led 17-14 at halftime but was left to lament missed chances. Falk was 16-of-34 passing for 248 yards in the first half, a completion rate that was hammered by dropped passes by his wide receivers. The Cougars dropped two would-be touchdown passes in the first half.

The biggest came four minutes into the second quarter, with WSU leading 14-7 and facing a second-and-7 at the CU 26-yard line. Falk floated a perfect pass down the right sideline and into the end zone for Gabe Marks, but the ball hit the Pac-12 leader in career catches in the hands and dropped to the turf. CU held the Cougars on fourth down later in the drive, and the Buffs scored on Liufau’s 3-yard touchdown run on their ensuing possession to tie the game.

“We just squandered the opportunity,” Cougars coach Mike Leach said.

CU had a chance to tie the game just before halftime, but freshman badly missed a 38-yard field goal with four seconds left.

But Liufau ran in for a score to give CU lead to start the third quarter, and he just kept making plays. Liufau had run to the locker room after a big run in the fourth quarter. But he was back on the field as the clock ran out, center stage in a college football dream that will live another week.

“We’re very happy to be in the position we’re in,” Liufau said. “We kept our hopes alive.”