BOULDER — LaJohntay Wester knows the pain of college football.

Wester had a great career at Florida Atlantic, but he’s seen his Owls lose on a walk-off field goal in El Paso. He’s seen another team celebrate their bowl eligibility in the final game of a losing season.

Wester now knows the pure, unadulterated joy of college American football.

Wester was on the receiving end of what instantly became one of the most famous passes in Colorado football history Saturday night, collecting a Hail Mary from Shedeur Sanders as time expired in regulation to force overtime in a 38-31 victory over Baylor at Folsom Field.

“I was in college for a while, I’ve always been on the other side of the stick,” Wester said. “They run onto the field after they beat us and we just try to get off the field as fast as we can. This time I was able to enjoy it and really connect with some of the fans, take pictures. It’s awesome, man. It was an amazing feeling. There’s nothing that compares to this.”

On a wild night befitting Colorado’s return to Big 12 play, the Buffs could have tied the game on the play before that. Sanders threw the ball toward the same corner of the Baylor end zone, but the ball deflected off Will Sheppard’s hands on a contested play.

The clock still read :02. Colorado got a second chance, and the Buffs didn’t waste it.

Three wide receivers — Wester, Sheppard and Omarion Miller — lined up to Sanders’ left. Travis Hunter split, intentionally, alone to the right.

Hunter is arguably the best college football player in America, and he was the best decoy in this play.

“I told coach, ‘Just let me go to the sideline by myself,'” Hunter said. “I knew there would be more people on me, and that would give our guys a chance to play one-on-one. They did exactly what we thought. They had three people on me. I just know sometimes you have to step back and let the team play their role and make a good play. So I trusted the process.

“I just wanted us to have a chance. It’s 50-50, but with our receiver corps it’s more like 80-20. I mean, you can’t get better than our receiver corps.”

Sanders took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left. The Baylor pass rush hounded Sanders all night, tackling him eight times and pressuring him on dozens of his nearly 60 dropbacks.

The intention was also to get him out of the pocket, but two Bears nearly came at him at midfield when Sanders sent the ball into the front left corner of the end zone.

Wester found the ball in the air and responded, hauling it in just after Baylor defensive back Caden Jenkins had fallen and well before the safety could arrive. It was Wester’s fourth catch of the game on seven targets.

He wasn’t happy with at least one of the non-catches earlier in the game. Then he made up for it.

“You’re not going to be perfect,” Wester said. “You’re going to make mistakes, but it’s just the next step, man, and you’ve got to make up for it. As long as you make up for it, everyone’s going to forget about those drops.”

The improbability of the play was heightened by everything that came before it. Sanders was sacked on four of Colorado’s first six plays after Baylor took a 31-24 lead. At one point, it was second-and-24 with 54 seconds to play and 69 yards to the end zone.