Shedeur Sanders pushes ref after gang-tackle, somehow doesn’t get ejected

Over the past month, just about everything has been going the way of Shedeur Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. They've been absolutely riding high, perfectly in line to make the Big 12 Championship Game and with a simple path to the College Football Playoff. But trouble was lurking in Week 13.

Colorado was tasked with going on the road to face the upset-minded Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium. In the previous two games, Lance Leipold's team hurt Iowa State's chances of making the Big 12 title game with an upset win and then handed BYU its first loss of the season the following week. So many wondered if Colorado would be next.

And indeed, the red-hot Jayhawks weren't stopping. The run game behind Devin Neal caused the Buffs problems right out of the gate, most notably keeping Sanders and the potent offense off the field for large chunks of time. While that was all happening, though, the Colorad quarterback was the recipient of some brutal hits, including one roughing the passer flag that was picked up after the fact.

So when Shedeur was sacked and then caught the wrong end of a gang tackle that saw Sanders take numerous shots to the head in the process, he got up fiery — perhaps a little too much so.

Shedeur Sanders avoids ejection somehow after shoving ref

Sanders got up and was ready to confront the Kansas defense but the referee was already separating them. As such, the Buffaloes quarterback pushed the ref — and somehow was not ejected and, instead, only received a push from another official.

Frustrations were clearly boiling over for the Buffaloes in that moment but it's a miracle that Sanders wasn't immediately thrown out of the game.

But he stayed in and, unfortunately for Colorado, it didn't help. Sanders and the offense had a chance to keep it close but came up empty as Kansas kept pounding the rock and adding to its lead. Now, the Big 12 Championship race has been turned on its head with a wild week in the conference and the Buffaloes now no longer in control of their own destiny.