GAME AT A GLANCE
Ѳٳܱ:Colorado Buffaloes (2-0) at Northwestern Wildcats (1-0)
Kickoff: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. MT, Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium (capacity 12,023)
ճ:FOX
鲹徱:KHOW 630 AM
Series: Tied 1-1
There is a version of college football that sells itself on the size of the room. Full stands, a flyover, a television window built around the spectacle.
Colorado has been one of the sport’s most dependable draws for four seasons. They opened in front of 52,113 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, and followed it with 49,363 for the home opener — the second-largest crowd Folsom Field has held for a game against an FCS opponent.
On Saturday they play in a stadium that holds just over 12,000 people, in the rain.
The Wildcats have spent two-plus seasons on the lakefront while Northwestern completes an $875 million rebuild of Ryan Field. Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, their temporary home since August 2024, drew 9,574 for the opener. Colorado’s visit on Saturday will be the stadium’s final stand, as Northwestern will host Penn State at the new 35,000-seat Ryan Field on Oct. 2.
CU head coach Deion Sanders raised the forecast Tuesday, in his opening remarks.
“Daunting task. I feel like maybe inclement weather in Northwestern,” Sanders said. “We’re up for the challenge.”
He was reading it right. AccuWeather’s Saturday forecast calls for rain, some of it heavy, and a thunderstorm — 68 degrees at kickoff, an 88% chance of rain in the evening rising to 99% overnight, with nearly an inch expected after dark.
The crowd is not the thing to worry about. The weather is, and the Buffaloes are 3 1/2-point underdogs.
Play the way it did , where Colorado leaned on the run in a one-score road win, and the Buffaloes can win a low-scoring game in bad weather. If the ball gets away from them — a wet exchange, a short field, a kick that matters — the margin closes in a hurry.
Colorado has been practicing for the specific version of that problem.
“We’re definitely practicing a lot of wet-ball drills with the holders and snappers,” kicker Elliott Arnold said. “With the wind, it’s kind of how (Damon Greaves) is going to hold the ball at an angle, depending on whether it’s left-to-right, right-to-left, into the wind, with the wind. So we’re practicing according to the weather right now.”
Arnold, who made a 52-yard field goal and all seven extra point attempts against Weber State in the first game action of his career, has done this once before. He played a high school game in Nashville during a storm, he said, and the special teams held up.
Northwestern beat South Dakota State 34-18 on Sept. 5, and then took its bye. The Wildcats picked up eight fewer first downs, trailed in time of possession by more than eight minutes, and won anyway behind explosive plays — 497 yards on 55 snaps to South Dakota State’s 432 on 88, 11.4 per pass attempt and 7.2 per carry. They led by two points in the fourth quarter before scoring twice in the last five minutes, the second an 80-yard run.
The weather cuts at something that showed up in Northwestern’s only game so far this season. The Wildcats punted five times against South Dakota State for a 24.0-yard average, with a touchback and nothing downed inside the 20. Field position in a rain storm is more valuable than it was Sept. 5. Colorado’s Greaves, an All-Big 12 honorable mention last season, is averaging 44.2 yards a boot and has pinned opponents inside the 20 with four of his nine punts.
A wet field tends to push a game down into the trenches and leave it there. Colorado has rushed for 183 and 180 yards in its first two games. Northwestern ran for 224 yards on 31 carries in its opener.
The Buffaloes finished 135th nationally against the run last season, giving up 2,670 yards and 222.5 per game. Through two weeks, the front has held up: 51 yards allowed at Georgia Tech, 127 to Weber State (74 of those after Colorado led 52-14).
The players say the setting is beside the point. Center Sean Kinney pointed back to a preseason week the team spent together in Colorado Springs without their phones.
“When things aren’t going right, you know your guys,” Kinney said. “It’s not like it’s strangers that are trying to figure it out.”
Colorado also has to account for Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles, who has 13 career rushing touchdowns, one of them a 23-yard run against the Buffaloes as an Oregon State freshman in 2023.
“Being able to get out of the pocket, extend plays — athletic guy,” CU defensive end Toby Anene said. “Coach Helow was telling us today that you’ve got to tackle him like a running back. Can’t go high. Wrap him up.”
