Colorado opened its season with the kind of finish that erases a lot of offseason doubt. Trailing for most of the night in Atlanta, the Buffaloes scored the go-ahead touchdown with 37 seconds remaining and then watched defensive back Boo Carter block a 45-yard, game-tying field-goal attempt as time expired, sealing a 14-13 win over Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Lewis, just 18 years old, delivered the winning strike, a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Williams, on a night when Colorado's passing game managed only 124 yards. What the Buffaloes lacked through the air, they made up for on the ground and at the line of scrimmage: Colorado out-rushed Georgia Tech 183 yards to 51, and it was the second Yellow Jackets field-goal attempt blocked in the fourth quarter alone, after Kevin Roche Jr. got a piece of an earlier try.

Georgia Tech nearly stole the game late. Backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza, a transfer from Indiana and the younger brother of Hoosiers star Fernando Mendoza, completed 17 of 23 passes for 237 yards and hit receiver Dalen Penson for 42 yards to set up the potential game-winning kick. But three plays after that gained only six yards, and Aidan Birr's 45-yard attempt never got off the ground. The Yellow Jackets' only touchdown had come on a 100-yard kickoff return by Rahkeem Smith in the second quarter.

A statement after a rough season

The win matters as much for what it follows as for how it happened. Colorado went 3-9 a year ago, and Sanders' roster drew offseason mockery over training-camp photos that made the Buffaloes look undersized. He wasted no time settling that score after the game.

"We rushed for 183 (yards), my God. They rushed for 51. I thought we were small?"

Sanders, according to comments relayed by Outkick, also declared simply, "I'm back," and took credit for Georgia Tech drawing its first sellout home opener in 20 years. It was Colorado's first win decided in the final seconds since 2012, a detail Yahoo Sports noted underscored just how long the program had gone without this kind of signature moment. The Thursday night matchup had been flexed onto national television specifically because of the attention still surrounding Sanders' program, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

For Georgia Tech, the loss is a tough way to open a season that carried real expectations after last year's success, and it puts extra weight on next week's home game against Tennessee. Colorado, meanwhile, gets a considerably lighter test at home against Weber State before road trips to Northwestern and Baylor set up its Big 12 slate. For one night at least, Sanders got the loud, redemptive answer to his critics that he's been promising all offseason.