After being a Mile High and Sky High the Buffaloes were brought back to Earth and dearth.

But Colorado lost to the domination-determined Ducks on Saturday afternoon by only one point.

In the second half.

At halftime, with Oregon steadfastly and securely ahead 35-0, smug coach Dan Lanning said to the national TV audience: “We’re not satisfied … We aren’t done yet.’’

On their first possession of the third quarter the Ducks scored for a 42-0 advantage.

Guess what? Oregon was undone despite Lanning’s avowal and efforts to win 62-,72-, 82-0. Colorado scored a touchdown, too, and would have tied the Quackers for points in the second half if the extra point hadn’t been blocked — and might have scored again in the last minute.

Sure, the last time these two teams will meet in a Pac-12 Conference game was a thermonuclear blowout, and the vastly superior squad prevailed. But the fantastic fairytale of Coach Prime and his thundering herd of Buffaloes does not finish. And Deion Sanders can put this receipt in his Louis Vuitton briefcase in the trunk of his Lamborghini.

Perhaps CU, of the reborn Big 12, and Oregon, of the swollen Big Ten, will meet again someday soon somewhere somehow.

Colorado was defeated and humbled in Eugene, Ore., but “Cinderella’’, as Lanning referred to the Buffs, lives to play again and against probably a better team than Oregon in the USC Trojans and in Boulder. If the Buffs can win six games – and they already are halfway there and have Stanford and the Arizona schools on the schedule – they will receive bowl invitations and still be the phenomenal story of college football in 2023.

It is well to remember that almost nobody but Bo Nix’s family, friends and fans would have been watching the Oregon-Colorado game on ESPN if it weren’t for Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders, Shilo Sanders and a horde of players who time-traveled through the transfer portal. Every losing team in the country will be trying to replicate what Coach Prime has done, and many will be trying to lure him out of Colorado. Or they will be searching for his coaching clone.

Lanning, whose Ducks came in ranked 10th and will rise in the polls Sunday, beat the betting spread of 21 points. But one service that offered the Buffs and plus-48 at intermission lost hard cash. The Buffs were even in touchdowns in the second half even though the head Duck was keeping Nix, a realistic Heisman Trophy candidate (who also transferred colleges – from Auburn) in the game and trying to score touchdowns on fourth-and-goal rather than take the guppy field goal. He was calling for two-point conversions in the first half.

And, of course, Oregon, ahead 13-0 early, pulled off the trick play-of-the-week with a fake punt at its own 17-yard line. As the punter feigned a terrible snap flying over his head, the ball actually went directly to blocker Casey Rogers – who is a 6-foot-5, 304-pound senior defensive tackle. Rogers rumbled – yes, rumbled – 18 yards for a first down and set up the third of six Ducks touchdowns.

Congratulations, coach. You buffaloed Colorado. On the sideline Lanning was so happy fist-pumping with his special teams coach and slapping his own back. Although Lanning had acted nicely-nice in the leadup to the game with 19th-ranked CU, behind the locker room doors. “This game isn’t in Hollywood. It’s on grass,’’ he told his troops after giving the network access. “They are going for clicks. We are going for wins.’’ Not a Bear Bryant or Knute Rockne speech, but maybe the coach was aiming for an Emmy in Eugene.

In a half century of columns I haven’t often praised a conquered college team – Nebraska in the Orange Bowl loss to Miami was a rare one – but, truth be, Colorado doesn’t have the offensive line, the defensive line or the receivers or the secondary (especially without Travis Hunter not in on 120 plays on both sides) – to thump or bump Oregon, USC, UCLA, Washington State, Oregon State and Utah. They might edge one of those. But, then, they were predicted to be one of the worst Power 5 teams for a second season. They aren’t.

And the Buffs still will be one of the most entertaining programs for the first time in a long time.

The score in the second half was 7-6.

This is not the end.