Colorado football can't overcome turnovers in lopsided loss to Northwestern

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The Colorado Buffaloes began the 2026 season in a surprising way.

Two wins against Georgia Tech and Weber State. In those first two games, Colorado leaned on their running game and ability to stop the run. Something that has not been as strong for the previous three years. The issue on Saturday night was that Northwestern beat Colorado at their own game.

If Colorado can run the ball effectively and stop the run, they’ll be in good shape in most of their games. Add in the hope that Julian Lewis can extend plays and even use his feet. As well as spreading the ball around to multiple backs and receivers. However, that concept just described was executed better by Northwestern in the 41-7 win for the Wildcats.

Julian Lewis had 168 yards on 65 percent passing with one touchdown and one interception. Northwestern’s Aidan Chiles was better with 241 yards and three touchdowns. He was also noticeably better at extending plays and buying time. Chiles’ ability to improvise led to most of Northwestern’s big offensive plays.

Both teams ran the ball effectively. But like most aspects of this game, Northwestern had a better game plan. Colorado ran it for 176 yards and 5.7 yards per carry. Northwestern ran for 190 yards on 4.2 yards per carry with two rushing touchdowns. The receiving numbers told a similar story but with a wider gap. Colorado finished with 8.8 yards per reception, while Northwestern racked up 14.2 yards per catch.

Defensively, there was some room for optimism with Colorado. The Buffs lead the game in tackles, tackles for loss, and both teams registered the same number of sacks. However, the margin between the two defensive units was not wide enough to make up for the self-inflicted wounds.

Penalties, turnovers and inexperience paved the road for Northwestern

Based on the numbers, and even the eye test to some degree, this game was not as wide as the score would suggest. That is if you can ignore the penalties, turnovers and inexperience issues. There is a tiny sample size of college football games that are winnable when a team commits four turnovers. Lewis threw two interceptions and the team also lost two fumbles. That is before acknowledging three ‘turnover on downs’. Few teams are coming back from that.

After two wins that involved a reasonable penalty situation, the Buffs appear to now have a penalty problem. An issue Deion Sanders is not likely to downplay. Colorado committed nine penalties worth almost 100 yards. The issue with the penalties is layered as most of those came in critical moments. Most of which were after the first quarter, contributing to the ballooning Northwestern lead.

Lewis is a young quarterback, and fans will need to be patient. He'll soon be 19 with not even a full year of experience. Not to mention, he reclassified up a year and came to CU early. That means he didn't play his senior year in high school. The good news is he is making strides. He took a few shots downfield that he did not take in Week 1. Those windows on Saturday were smaller than they were against Weber State.

The less than good news is he’s young and lacks the sample size of starts that most of the quarterbacks Colorado will face. He still appears to get rushed and doesn’t handle a chaotic pocket well. Which are aspects that will improve with more reps.

Following the loss, Sanders, for the second week in a row, had to address a lack of focus. Like last week against Weber State, Sanders addressed players relaxing and having side conversations during the game. Sanders revealed that the issue has been still unresolved from last week.

"You did see a couple of guys I just got on. I don't understand how you can have joy from a loss, especially when I'm upset," Sanders said after the game. "I can't never understand that. I want to win, at everything. I addressed it. And Im'ma put my foot in it, not on it."

Bad now is still better than bad last year

This game was not ‘good’ for Colorado. There are very few silver linings in a 41-7 loss. However, losing a game by almost five touchdowns, this loss is still much better than these were last season. Colorado lost four games by more than 25 points in 2025. This game was still better than all four of those games.

The optimistic view is that the bad is fixable. If Colorado had eliminated the turnovers and bad penalties, this would have been a much closer game. Northwestern scored four times off turnovers if you count the turnover on downs as a turnover. Last season, games were lost big through a lack of focus, fight and effort. At no point was this game lost due to effort. The largest reason behind the 2026 roster rebuild was player effort and willingness in big moments. That issue seems to have been resolved.

Last season was worse than bad. Last season included several losses where the team was losing the same way. This game against Northwestern was not good from a results and discipline standpoint. However, this game was not devoid of good plays, quality drives and great effort from the players brought in.

Coach Prime and his staff are serious about contending for a Big 12 championship and potentially a playoff bid. Coming off a 3-9 campaign, that is a big goal. If they can address the turnovers and penalties, they’ll be halfway to fixing the issues of tonight. The rest will fall on Lewis. Who is not playing poorly but is learning on the job. If Lewis can make some strides and play within the scheme, this could evolve into something better than what was seen tonight. As Coach Prime put it in Week 1, just distribute and protect the ball.

Colorado’s next task will be DJ Lagway and Baylor on the road. The Buffs need to win that game. If they don’t, CU will welcome Texas Tech to Folsom Field with a .500 record.