In 2020, we’ve all learned to expect the unexpected.

Like … Col­orado becom­ing bowl eligible.

On Sat­ur­day, the Buf­faloes knocked off San Diego State, 20–10, at Fol­som Field in a game sched­uled less than 48 hours earlier.

In this COVID-19 pan­dem­ic-short­ened sea­son, the Buffs (3–0) have guar­an­teed them­selves of at least a .500 record in the reg­u­lar sea­son, thus achiev­ing that elu­sive goal of bowl eligibility.

The Buffs, pro­ject­ed by many to fin­ish at or near the bot­tom of the Pac-12 South divi­sion, snapped an 11-game los­ing streak in games where bowl eli­gi­bil­i­ty was on the line, dat­ing back to 2016.

Sam Noy­er threw for 138 yards and a touch­down and rushed for a touch­down to lead the Buffs in a defen­sive strug­gle. Jarek Brous­sard added 124 yards on the ground.

CU didn’t know until Thurs­day night that it would be play­ing the Aztecs (3–3), from the Moun­tain West Conference.

Sched­uled to vis­it No. 19 South­ern Cal­i­for­nia (3–0) on Sat­ur­day, that game was can­celed because of COVID-19 cas­es at USC. CU quick­ly replaced that game with SDSU, which had a game with Fres­no State canceled.

Despite lit­tle time to pre­pare, the Buffs found a way past the Aztecs, who brought their trade­mark phys­i­cal style to Boulder.

SDSU came in rank­ing third nation­al­ly in yards allowed (269.4) and eighth in points allowed (15.4).

CU didn’t have much suc­cess against the Aztecs, either, but it was enough. The Buffs fin­ished with just 272 yards in total offense, but held SDSU’s offense to 155 yards and three points.

CU got on the board on its open­ing pos­ses­sion, march­ing 83 yards in 6 min­utes, 5 sec­onds. The 16-play dri­ve cul­mi­nat­ed in a 1‑yard touch­down run by Noyer.

The two teams trad­ed five punts before CU went on anoth­er long scor­ing dri­ve, tak­ing 7:09 off the clock in 13 plays. That dri­ve, aid­ed by four San Diego State penal­ties, was capped by Noy­er flip­ping a 3‑yard touch­down pass to Jay­lon Jack­son for a 14–0 Col­orado lead.

The Buffs’ defense forced anoth­er SDSU punt and took over at mid­field with 3:29 to play in the first half. Rather than tak­ing con­trol with anoth­er score, the Buffs gave the Aztecs some life.

On first down, Noyer’s pass, intend­ed for KD Nixon, was picked off by the Aztecs’ Dar­ren Hall and returned 57 yards for a touchdown.

SDSU forced a quick three-and-out and then got a 48-yard field goal from Matt Araiza just before the half to pull with­in 14–10.

CU added to the lead mid­way through the third. After a dri­ve stalled at the SDSU 18-yard line, the Buffs set­tled for a 36-yard field goal from Evan Price to go up 17–10.

Price added a 41-yard field goal with 9:34 to go in the fourth, the Aztecs missed a pair of field goals and the Buffs held on from there to remain unde­feat­ed and give them­selves an oppor­tu­ni­ty to play in the postseason.

Nate Land­man had a career-high three sacks to lead the defense. Car­son Wells had four tack­les for loss.

Col­orado 20, San Diego State 10

Play of the game: With about 5 min­utes to go in the sec­ond quar­ter, Sam Noy­er was flushed from the pock­et and flipped a 3‑yard touch­down pass to  Jay­lon  Jack­son. That gave the Buffs a 14–0 lead and would prove to be the win­ning score.

Turn­ing point: Ear­ly in the fourth quar­ter, with CU lead­ing by just sev­en, SDSU missed a field goal. CU then respond­ed with a nine-play dri­ve that result­ed in an 41-yard Evan Price field goal to give the Buffs more cush­ion for the final 9:34.

Top 3 Buffs of the game

1. LB Nate Land­man: The senior had 11 tack­les and a career-high three sacks to lead the defense.

2. OLB Car­son Wells: Fin­ished with a sack and four tack­les for loss, a key to the defense hold­ing SDSU to 79 yards rushing.

3. RB Jarek Brous­sard: For the third time in three games, he topped the 100-yard mark, fin­ish­ing with 124 yards on 32 attempts.

Col­orado 20, San Diego St. 10

San Diego St. 0 10 0 0 — 10Colorado 7 7 3 3 — 20

First Quar­ter: COL — Noy­er 1 run (Price kick), 8:17.Second Quar­ter: COL — Ja.Jackson 3 pass from Noy­er (Price kick), 4:50. SDSU — D.Hall 57 inter­cep­tion return (Araiza kick), 3:18. SDSU — FG Araiza 48, :04.Third Quar­ter: COL — FG Price 36, 6:01.Fourth Quar­ter: COL — FG Price 41, 9:34.

SDSU COL First downs 10 20Passing 76 138Return Yards 40 36Fum­bles-Lost 1–0 3–0Time of Pos­ses­sion 22:32 37:28

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS”

RUSHING — San Diego St., Brook­shire 13–50, K.Williams 6–18, Bus­bee 1–6, J.Byrd 4–6, C.Bell 5–4, Matthews 1-(minus 1), Bak­er 1-(minus 4). Col­orado, Brous­sard 32–124, Noy­er 11–12, Davis 7–10, (Team) 3-(minus 12).

PASSING — San Diego St., Bak­er 4–9‑0–26, Brook­shire 7–19‑1–50. Col­orado, Noy­er 17–29‑1–138.

RECEIVING — San Diego St., Bellinger 3–38, Matthews 2–13, K.Smith 2–12, C.Bell 1–9, Kothe 1–3, J.Byrd 1–1, Bus­bee 1–0. Col­orado, Shenault 6–64, Nixon 4–26, Rice 2–16, Schman­s­ki 2–5, Brous­sard 1–14, Stan­ley 1–10, Ja.Jackson 1–3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — San Diego St., Araiza 50, Araiza 44.