Announcer nearly earns unsportsmanlike as Stanford stuns Colorado

At the start of the second quarter, with the Buffs leading 14-0, the Cardinal offense attempted to line up for a third-down play. However, the Colorado public address announcer refused to stop playing music as Stanford tried to get into formation. While home crowds take pride in disrupting opposing offenses on third down all the time in college football, the announcers and sound system techs are not supposed to get in on the action.

“Would the public address announcer please stop playing while Stanford is in formation and ready to snap the ball? Any more playing of music and sound effects will result in an unsportsmanlike conduct foul against Colorado,” said referee Justin Elliott, speaking on the stadium microphone. 

The public address announcer obeyed without getting penalized, but the curious moment was a harbinger of things to come for host Colorado. 

Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels caught fire in the second half, amassing over 400 total yards and four second-half touchdowns. After trailing by four scores, the Cardinal crawled back to tie the game on a field goal as regulation expired before winning on another field goal in double overtime. It was the largest comeback in Stanford football’s 132-year history.

Deion Sanders’ resurgent program had been the story of college football this year after the Buffs jumped out to a spotless 3-0 record — including a win at last year’s CFP runner-up TCU — to start the season. But Colorado has cooled of late. With the loss to Stanford, the Buffs have now lost three of their past four games.

Adding insult to injury, ESPN ended the broadcast by zeroing in on one inconsolable Colorado fan sobbing into his hands, unable to cope with the magnitude of the defeat.