Shedeur Sanders-LaJohntay Wester Hail Mary enters CU Buffs football history

BOULDER – LaJohntay Wester knows what college football is all about.

Wester had a fantastic career at Florida Atlantic, but he had to watch his Owls lose on a walk-off field goal in El Paso and watch another team celebrate bowl berths in the final game of a losing season.

Now Wester knows the pure, unadulterated joy of college football.

Wester was the recipient of what instantly became one of the most famous passes in Colorado football history on Saturday night, intercepting a Shedeur Sanders Hail Mary as regulation expired to force overtime in a 38-31 win over Baylor at Folsom Field.

“I've been in college for a while and I've always been on the other side of the field,” Wester said. “They rush the field after they beat us and we're just trying to get off the field fast. This time I was able to enjoy it and actually interact with some of the fans and take pictures. That's awesome, man. It was an incredible feeling. There's nothing like it.”

On a wild night worthy of Colorado's return to the Big 12, the Buffs could have tied the game with the play before. Sanders threw the ball into the same corner of the Baylor end zone, but it bounced off Will Sheppard's hands on a contested play.

The clock still showed :02. Colorado had a second chance and the Buffs didn't waste it.

Three wide receivers – Wester, Sheppard and Omarion Miller – lined up to the left of Sanders. Travis Hunter had intentionally moved off to the right alone.

Hunter may be the best college football player in America. He was the best decoy in this game.

“I told coach, 'Let me go to the side by myself,'” Hunter said. “I knew there would be more people coming at me and that would give our guys a one-on-one opportunity in the back. They did exactly what we thought they would do. They were three at me. I just know that sometimes you have to step back and let the team play their role and allow them to make a good play. So I trusted the process.

“I just wanted us to have a chance. It's 50-50, but with our receiver corps, it's more like 80-20. I mean, you can't get better than our receiver corps.”

Sanders took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left. The Baylor pass rush pressured Sanders all night, sacking him eight times and pressuring him on dozens of his nearly 60 dropbacks.

The intention was to get him out of the pocket, but two Bears almost came at him on the halfway line when Sanders sent the ball into the front left corner of the end zone.

Wester found the ball in the air and responded by hauling it in just after Baylor defender Caden Jenkins fell and long before help from the safeties could arrive. It was Wester's fourth catch of the game in seven attempts.

He was unhappy with at least one of the missed catches at the beginning of the game. Then he made up for it.

“You're not going to be perfect,” Wester said. “You're going to make mistakes out there, but it's all about making up for it the next game. As long as you make up for it, everyone will forget about those drops.”

The improbability of this game was compounded by everything that came before it. Sanders was sacked on four of Colorado's first six plays after Baylor took a 31-24 lead. At one point, it was second-and-24 attempt with 54 seconds to play and 69 yards to the end zone.