BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The gaze of Bill McCartney will now be watching over Colorado practices after former players donated a bronze statue of the late Colorado football coach.

Located in the northeast corner of the practice field — and in the shadow of Folsom Field — the 8 1/2-foot statue commemorates his accomplishments on the field. He’s the winningest coach in Colorado football history (93-55-5) and led the Buffaloes to their only national title in 1990.

McCartney died on January 10. He was 84.

The statue was unveiled in a private ceremony Friday night that included McCartney's family and former players along with coach Deion Sanders and the current team. It was on display Saturday as fans arrived before the Buffaloes played Arizona State in their home finale — a 42-17 loss.

“He had a vision. He could lift you to the heights that you couldn’t lift yourself," said Barry Remington, an inside linebacker who played for McCartney and was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame on Thursday. “He didn’t care if you were a walk-on, starter, four-star, one-star, he just wanted your best effort. He got the most out of everyone that he coached.”

The creation of the statue, which has been a while in the making, was led by former players such as linebacker Don DeLuzio. The base is made out of granite and includes a quote from McCartney: "Big Dreams Create the Magic That Stir Men’s Souls to Greatness.”

Sanders appreciated the sentiment.

“Statue is un-darn-believable,” Sanders said after the game. “I wish it was right in the center of the darn campus, I really do. But unbelievable moment with former players that were up under his coaching. This is just a wonderful, wonderful moment.”

McCartney guided Colorado to its best season in 1990, when the team finished 11-1-1 and beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to clinch a national title the Buffaloes would split with Georgia Tech.

McCartney, a charismatic figure known as “Coach Mac,” directed Colorado from 1982-94, retiring early to spend more time with his wife, Lyndi, who died in 2013. Following his retirement, McCartney worked full time at Promise Keepers, a ministry he started in 1990 after converting from Catholicism and whose aim is to encourage “godly men.”

The organization became a flash point in state politics, advocating unsuccessfully that gays be denied the designation of “protected class,” a position by the group that drew campus protests. He left as Promise Keepers’ president in 2003.

McCartney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Raleek Brown's career night keeps Arizona State in Big 12 title hunt with 42-17 win over Colorado

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Raleek Brown rushed for 255 yards, the third-most in Arizona State history, and had a pair of touchdowns to help the turnover-prone Sun Devils stay in Big 12 title contention with a 42-17 win over Colorado on Saturday night.

The Sun Devils (8-3, 6-2) still need help — Texas Tech and BYU both have one league loss — but go into the final week with a mathematical chance to play in the conference's championship game.

“It’s huge being getting to eight wins, with everything we’ve been through and keeping meaningful football alive,” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said. “There’s not many teams still in college football playing meaningful football.”

Arizona State weathered three fumbles and an interception thanks to its stout defense. The Buffaloes mustered only three points off the miscues.

The Sun Devils finished with 580 total yards, including 355 yards rushing. They outscored Colorado 29-10 in the second half.

Brown averaged 11.6 yards per carry. The only blemish on his big night was a fumble at the end of the third quarter when he jumped over a defender. But on his next carry — after the Sun Devils forced a fumble — Brown broke free for an 88-yard score that gave Arizona State a comfortable 28-17 lead with 13:31 remaining.

It was a pivotal play in the game — the Buffaloes were driving before the fumble by Ronald Coleman on his first carry — and redemption for Brown.

“I told everybody I was gonna get (it),” said Brown, who also had a 33-yard TD reception on a fourth-down play in the first half. “It happened on the first play.”

The program mark for most yards rushing in a game is held by Eno Benjamin, who had 312 yards against Oregon State in 2018. Cam Skattebo rushed for 262 against Mississippi State last season.

Jeff Sims threw for 206 yards and two TDs, including a slant route that Derek Eusebio turned into a 68-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Colorado (3-8, 1-7) closed out its home schedule with a 3-4 mark in coach Deion Sanders’ third season.

“The football team you saw in the first half from us was the football team that we’re capable of being," said Sanders, whose team trailed 13-7 at halftime. "Just the consistency to hold on and continue to be that — that’s a whole other thing.

“I can’t be happy with being close, because I expect to win. There's no consolation prize in football, man. You can’t be happy with just because you’re in the game; you’re supposed to be winning the game. I'm not built like that. I want to win. I don't want to be close.”

Freshman QB Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis finished 19 of 38 for 161 yards and a touchdown pass in his second career start (fourth game). He was sacked four times. Lewis can still redshirt if he doesn't play next week.

“There's a lot more into it than just me with the redshirt situation,” Lewis said. “I don't have any information on that.”

The takeaway

Arizona State: The Sun Devils finished 3-2 away from home, giving them back-to-back winning records on the road for the first time since 2013-14.

Colorado: The average attendance at Folsom Field this season was 50,469. The highest two marks for the program are both under Sanders — 2023 (53,180) and 2024 (52,514).

Deion Shuffle

After his 33-yard TD grab, Brown broke into a version of the “Deion Shuffle” in the end zone.

Quite a tackle

A security officer delivered a hard tackle on a fan who wandered onto the field. The fan was quickly escorted off the field by security.

So close

Arizona State receiver Jordyn Tyson nearly threw a TD pass against his former team on a trick play at the end of the second quarter, but overthrew Chamon Metayer. Tyson caught two passes for 61 yards.

Trick play

Sun Devils punter Kanyon Floyd converted a fourth-and-7 by completing a 19-yard pass to defensive tackle Blazen Lono-Wong.

Up next

Arizona State: Hosts Arizona on Friday in regular season finale.

Colorado: Closes out the season at Kansas State on Saturday.

Gaines and Sherrod each run for 2 TDs, Boise State beats Colorado State 49-21

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Sire Gaines ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns and Boise State jumped out early and rolled past Colorado State 49-21 on Saturday night.

Gaines' 3-yard touchdown run capped a 14-play, 79-yard drive on Boise State's opening drive.

Malik Sherrod had TD runs of 1 and 25 yards. Dylan Riley had a 2-yard rushing touchdown and Seth Knothe scored on a 9-yard run that capped the scoring with 2:29 to play.

Riley finished with 72 yards rushing on 14 carries and Sherrod ran seven times for 56 yards. Max Cutforth was 22-of-34 passing for 239 yards for Boise State (7-4, 5-2 Mountain West Conference), which ended a two-game skid.

Darius Curry completed 26 of 46 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions for the Rams. Rocky Beers had 94 yards receiving and a touchdown on seven catches. Lloyd Avant ran for a 4-yard touchdown and Tay Lanier had a 6-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter.

Colorado State (2-9, 1-6) has lost five in a row.

Boise State leads the series 13-1 and has won 26 of its last 27 home finales.

Jack Layne, Damon Bankston propel New Mexico to 20-3 victory over Air Force

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — Jack Layne and Damon Bankston had touchdown runs and New Mexico beat Air Force 20-3 on Saturday night.

New Mexico (8-3, 5-2 Mountain West Conference) took a 7-0 lead on a game-opening, 75-yard drive that Layne ended with a 12-yard run.

Bankston's 2-yard scoring run capped a 15-play, 82-yard drive that began in the first quarter and ended three minutes into the second for a 14-0 lead. The Lobos ran 14:16 off the clock on their first two possessions.

Luke Drzewiecki added a short field goal and New Mexico led 17-0 at halftime. Drzewiecki's 23-yarder was the only score of the second half for the Lobos.

Air Force (3-8, 2-5) avoided the shutout on Reagan Tubbs' 27-yard field goal at the end of a 19-play drive early in the final quarter.

Lane completed 10 of 15 passes for 105 yards and added 24 yards on eight rushes. Bankston carried 10 times for 61 yards.

The Falcons managed just 161 total yards, 110 on the ground.

Both teams play regular-season finales on Friday when the Lobos host first-place San Diego State and the Falcons travel to play Colorado State.

Northern Colorado snaps five-game losing streak with 24-13 victory over Portland State

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Justin Guin ran for 115 yards and one of three Northern Colorado rushing touchdowns, helping the Bears snap a five-game losing streak with a 24-13 victory over Portland State on Saturday.

In the season finale for both teams, Guin's 44-yard touchdown run and Brandon Johnson's 1-yard run gave the Bears a 14-7 halftime lead.

Mathias Price had a 3-yard TD run in the third quarter and Jacob Willig's 22-yard field goal in the final minute of the fourth quarter made it 24-13.

Eric Gibson Jr. had 94 yards passing for the Bears (4-8, 2-6 Big Sky Conference) and they added 215 yards on the ground.

Portland State had the edge in total yards 326-309 but the Vikings did not find the end zone again after Cru Newman's 3-yard run gave them a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Mathias Uribe kicked two field goals.

The Vikings (1-11, 1-7) lost their last three games after defeating Cal Poly 40-35 for their only conference win.

Northern Colorado snapped a five-game losing streak in the series. The Bears' other conference win was a 49-33 victory over Idaho before the losing streak began. 

Denker, Northern Colorado knock off Portland 86-80 in OT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Quinn Denker scored 11 of his 29 points in overtime, and Northern Colorado beat Portland 86-80 on Saturday night.

Denker hit the game-tying jump shot with 16 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime tied 69-all. Denker shot 8 of 14 overall, and he made eight free throws in overtime and finished 10-of-10 shooting from the line.

Denker added six rebounds and seven assists for the Bears (4-1). Egan Shields scored 15 points and added 11 rebounds. Brock Wisne had 14 points. Ibu Yamakazi scored 11 of his 12 points in the second half for Northern Colorado.

Cameron Williams finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Pilots (4-2). James O'Donnell scored 14 points for Portland. Matus Hronsky added 12 points.

Wisne scored 10 points in the first half for Northern Colorado, who led 35-32 at the break.

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Blackwood makes 35 saves as Avalanche shut out Predators 3-0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — MacKenzie Blackwood made 35 saves to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

Brent Burns scored early, and Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Drury added empty-net goals for the Avalanche. Colorado has won eight straight, their longest winning streak since taking nine in a row March 4-24, 2024.

Juuse Saros made 23 saves for the Predators, losers of seven of eight. Saturday was the first game back in North America for the Predators after playing a pair of Global Series games last week against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm, Sweden. The Predators have been shutout in consecutive games.

The shutout was the first of the season and 15th of Blackwood’s career.

Burns scored the game’s first goal just 15 seconds after the opening faceoff.

After a battle in the right corner, the puck came to Burns above the right circle, where he beat Saros with a wrist shot on the first shot of the game.

The game remained 1-0 until MacKinnon scored an empty-net goal was 1:35 remaining in the third with Saros pulled for an extra attacker. Drury added another empty-netter with 51 seconds left.

MacKinnon has three goals in his last two games.

Colorado defenseman Cale Makar failed to record a point in a road game for the first time this season.

The Predators outshot the Avalanche 16-6 in the first, but couldn’t get one past Blackwood.

Saturday was just the fifth time this season that an opponent has outshot the Avalanche. Colorado is 5-0-0 in those games.

Blackwood stopped Nashville's Michael McCarron with 5:47 remaining in the third on a backhand from the low slot to keep the Predators off the board.

Predators captain Roman Josi returned to the lineup Saturday after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury.

Up next

Avalanche visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

Predators host the Florida Panthers on Monday.

Kings overcome Jokic's 44 points, beat Nuggets 128-123 to end 8-game slide

DENVER (AP) — Russell Westbrook scored 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter against his former team, and the Sacramento Kings withstood 44 points from Nikola Jokic to beat the Denver Nuggets 128-123 on Saturday night, ending an eight-game slide.

Dennis Schroder also had 21 points for Sacramento, which lost every game during the streak by double digits — the last by 41 points at Memphis on Thursday night.

The Kings appeared on their way to a ninth straight defeat after falling behind by 13 in the third quarter, but they rallied to take the last of three games against Denver this season.

Keegan Murray had 19 points in his second game back from offseason surgery on his left thumb. DeMar DeRozan added 17, including a three-point play with 12 seconds left that sealed it.

It was the second consecutive home game in which the Nuggets fell to a team on an extended losing streak. Chicago handed them their first home loss Monday night to stop a five-game skid.

Jokic had 19 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Jamal Murray scored 23 points and Cam Johnson had 20 for the Nuggets, who were without Aaron Gordon. The forward injured his right hamstring early in Friday night's win at Houston.

Spencer Jones made his first career start in place of Gordon.

Murray’s free throw midway through the third gave Denver a 79-66 lead, but the Kings rallied to take a lead late in the period, then scored 10 straight points early in the fourth to go up 104-98.

They extended it to 114-105 on Westbrook’s layup before Denver rallied to get within 123-120 on Jokic's 3-pointer. DeRozan iced it with a three-point play and hit two more free throws in the final seconds.

Up next

Kings: Host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

Nuggets: At the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.