Jimmy Horn Jr. takes long Colorado touchdown off the board with bonehead open-field penalty

Colorado receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. made a huge play for the Buffaloes on Saturday against Cincinnati. However, he also committed an equally big blunder in the same sequence that wiped it away.

Horn caught a pass from Shedeur Sanders on the opening drive and took off down the sideline for what would have been a 57-yard touchdown. Except at the very end of the play, the receiver decided to celebrate by throwing up a peace sign to the Bearcats defense. That resulted in him being flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and the touchdown being taken away.

Jimmy Horn Jr. did the “✌️” sign on the way to the end zone and they took away his touchdown 👀 pic.twitter.com/YEHGjwE1ro

— We Coming 🦬 (@SkoBuffsGoBuffs) October 27, 2024

One of the stupidest penalties in college football is that throwing up the peace sign at a defender takes points off the board.

Jimmy Horn Jr. scores for Colorado but the taunting penalty takes it away pic.twitter.com/jwLFov1kLN

— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) October 27, 2024

Although the touchdown from Horn was called back, the Buffaloes would manage to get on the board as Sanders found Travis Hunter for a three-yard score a few plays later. Things are currently tied up at 7 with 6:01 remaining in the first quarter.

Horn has been a reliable target in the passing game this season to record 28 catches for 356 yards and a touchdown. He’ll aim to avoid any more mistakes like this as Colorado looks to earn its sixth win of the season and become bowl eligible.

Shedeur Sanders explains balance of distributing passes to Colorado receivers

Not many teams in the country throw the ball quite like the Colorado Buffaloes, who ranked No. 7 in the FBS with 324 yards per game through the air. It’s a passing attack led by quarterback Shedeur Sanders and numerous weapons on the perimeter.

A majority of Colorado’s top wideouts transferred in from other programs, where they were also previously top targets. Its an adjustment that receivers like LaJohntay Wester and others had to make that Sanders recently spoke about heading into this weekend’s matchup.

“It was really all the receivers, it was tough early on getting everybody adjusted to knowing that the ball is gonna get spread around everywhere. It’s just just patience,” Sanders explained. “So you get a guy that came from FAU where he was the best receiver there getting all the targets. To now, everybody is a great player.”

Will Sheppard was Vanderbilt‘s top wideout before joining the Buffaloes this offseason. And in the previous offseason, two-way superstar Travis Hunter joined the Buffaloes from Jackson State alongside Sanders. Not to mention Jimmy Horn also transferring in ahead of last season after racking up 959 yards in two seasons with USF.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.