BOULDER — You could accuse Coach Prime of running CU football the same way your fraternity brother runs his dynasty mode in EA Sports’ College Football 25.

But when you have the guy on the cover of a video game, can you really blame him?

Travis Hunter 38, Baylor 31.

Enter 12.

Trust 12.

Find 12.

The Bears couldn’t do that.

Travis Hunter 38, Baylor 31.

Hunter’s game-ending forced fumble gave CU a victory in its first Big 12 game in 14 years and sent a homecoming crowd packing Folsom Field before the inevitable was confirmed.

“The game isn’t over yet!” shouted the announcer.

“The play is being reviewed!”

“Please stop jumping on the field!”

They didn’t.

And the party had only just begun.

Baylor gave up an inch. CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders took it a mile high.

Travis Hunter 38, Baylor 31.

Hunter (seven catches, 130 yards) begged, no, screamed, for the Buffs to give him the ball. Sanders did.

The Bears had about three chances to put CU away for good. Baylor returned a Mark Vassett punt to the hosts’ 26-yard line, leading 31-24 with 4 minutes left. CU’s defense held firm, and the football gods smiled on Coach Prime. On a wet field with a wet ball, Bears kicker Isaiah Hankins fired a 46-yard field goal with 2:19 left that would have put the Hunter and Shedeur Magic Show in a 10-point hole. Wide right.

After two disappointing — to put it mildly — offensive drives prior to this one, which combined for 27 yards on 13 plays, the Buffs went back to work. Shedeur Sanders recovered a potential sack fumble on first down at his own 45 with 1:48 left. He then ran 17 yards on second-and-24 from his own 31. On third-and-10 from the Baylor 43, the coach’s son rolled left and threw a prayer to Wester, who held the ball in the end zone.

Who leaves La’Johntay Wester in 1-on-1 coverage on a Hail Mary?

Where would the Buffs be without Hunter, who virtually single-handedly pulled CU back in the second half?

Offensive line? Coach Deion Sanders shuffled his starting five in the game to try to find a combination that wouldn’t have his son running for his life.

Special teams? The Buffs allowed a 54-yard punt return in the first quarter. And a 100-yard kick return for a score in the second.

Defense? The CU D held Baylor at bay on the first two attacks of the second half and held steady the entire game.

When Baylor coach Dave Aranda had the Buffs on their heels in the first half, he didn’t let up. On fourth-and-2 at the CU 45 with 4:19 left until halftime, the Bears, up 17-10, threw caution to the wind and let nimble QB Sawyer Robertson hold. He found a hole in the left guard and spun upfield for the first down, which was bad enough. Suddenly, all the ghosts of the 2023 CU defense, your least welcome homecoming guests, returned on a single play. One Buffs safety, Carter Stoutmire, charged in but somehow managed to completely wipe himself and another safety, Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, out of the game in a single dive. Inside linebacker Nakhai Hill-Green swung wildly as Robertson surged past, but couldn’t win the footrace, turning a short gainer into a stunning 45-yard touchdown run. And a 23-10 lead for Baylor.

Meanwhile, Shedeur Sanders was doing Houdini tricks all night long. On second-and-11 from his own 21 with 1:54 left in the second quarter, No. 2 escaped a sure sack on the right hash, turned into daylight, cut back to the left, diagnosed to the left boundary and somehow turned a sure loss of 8 yards into a run of 14 yards.

The Buffs’ signal-caller brought out the Harry Porter staff again three players later. On a third-and-3 at the CU 42, the younger Sanders spun free of a tackle with the arm of Baylor linebacker Steve Linton, stepped back to the right hash to create space, then set up and fired a laser to wideout Omarion Miller, who trapped the ball at the Baylor 35. Eight times out of 10, the play would have ended there. But Miller’s knees and shins didn’t appear to be touching the ground on the tackle from Bears defensive end Corey Gordon Jr., so the Buffs wideout kept moving his legs, got up and sprinted the rest of the way to the end zone to pull the hosts within a score. A replay of the play confirmed Miller’s decision to keep the game alive.