LUBBOCK, Texas >> Asked what he was feeling when the Colorado Buffaloes fell into a 13-0 hole early on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium, quarterback Shedeur Sanders offered a succinct answer.

“Nothing,” he said.

Speaking of that same 13-0 deficit, safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig said, “I mean, 13 points, it’s a field goal to us, to be real.”

Sure enough, the Buffs (7-2, 5-1 Big 12) scored the next 17 points and rolled to a 41-27 win against Texas Tech that lifted them into sole possession of second place in the conference, one game behind BYU (9-0, 6-0).

On Sunday, the Buffs jumped three spots to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 and moved up four spots to No. 20 in the US LBM Coaches poll. Sitting at No. 20 in the College Football Playoff top 25, they are likely to move up when the new rankings are released Tuesday, as three of the five teams ranked from 15-19 lost on Saturday.

One of the most impressive aspects of the 2024 Buffs and their climb in the rankings is their ability to remain confident in the face of adversity, in part because they simply don’t view deficits as adversity.

“Personally, it was more of knowing it’s go time,” Sanders said. “It was a lot of unfortunate things that happened early on in the game. A lot of busted routes, a lot of things that we got to improve, a lot of misreads and stuff. So we understood that was, like, we can’t afford that in the second half. It’s championship football right now.”

Earlier this season, CU trailed by 14 at home against Baylor, rallied and won in overtime. The Buffs trailed by 14 against Kansas State, rallied, and took a late lead before falling 31-28.

In winning six of their last seven games, the Buffs have found a groove and play with supreme confidence, even through bumps in the road.

“We went through fall camp, we kind of seen this already, to be real,” Silmon-Craig said. “We already seen the type of team that we had.”

It wasn’t until the games started, though, that the Buffs gained that tangible proof that they were as good as they thought.

“It’s different when you get into the game, you kind of get into more of a rhythm,” Silmon-Craig said. “You learn guys. You know what they can do up front. Those guys are balling, so now me and (fellow safety Shilo Sanders) can play a little deeper. When we get up we can worry about them guys having the run. We can handle the pass type thing.

“I mean, it’s kind of a thing we already seen. It just took a minute for it to happen. … We just kind of get in our rhythm and now we’re balling.”

Because the Buffs are balling, they’re now in control of their own fate. Win the next three games and they’ll play in the Big 12 championship game on Dec. 7 in Arlington, Texas.

Next up, however, is a date with Utah (4-5, 1-5) on Saturday at Folsom Field (10 a.m., Fox).

“We take it one week at a time,” Silmon-Craig said. “Ain’t nothing change for us. It’s a long season. At the end of the day, it’s college football and we’re focused on the next game. Is it Utah? So we gonna focus on that right now and handle that right there. That’s our mentality.

The championship game will be there (if the Buffs keeping winning). One game at a time; trying to go 1-0.”

CU has been going 1-0 most weeks because of its confidence, even in the face of adversity.

“Everybody’s playing loose and everybody’s playing themselves, because we know, OK, if we mess up, you know, we’re gonna figure it out, and we’re gonna get it,” Sanders said. “Nobody’s playing tense anymore, I think. I think we’re going out there just being us and that’s the fun thing when it comes to football, when you’re having fun.”