Coaching costs CU Buffs in upset bid against USC Trojans

BOULDER—Without Coach Prime, it’s hard to imagine the Colorado Buffaloes being here—battling the No. 8 USC Trojans in front of a national audience with celebrities and scouts in the house.

But Deion Sanders’ coaching staff’s miscues on Saturday haunted the Buffs as they tried to pull off a comeback down 34-7. The team, resilient as ever, battled back to lose 48-41 but a few small things change and the Pac-12 showdown likely heads to overtime.

Yes, Caleb Williams and crew were in the driver’s seat most of Saturday but they couldn’t put the stake through the Buffs. Williams’ first pick of the season at 48-25 really gave CU hope and led to a touchdown. Then the defense got another stop, forcing a fourth USC punt of the day.

Down two scores, Colorado got the ball back and were at fourth-and-five from the USC 47. Sean Lewis and staff used the Buffaloes second timeout—the first came on an early half defensive adjustment. Call the perfect play with nine minutes to go, find the end zone quick and you may not need to stop the clock on defense.

The play call was anything but perfect, with Sanders facing a herd of Trojans for a sack as a moving pocket couldn’t hold for an instant. Now the Buffs needed two stops and scores with just a timeout.

Until CU used a timeout on the ensuing USC drive with the clock stopped on a third down to set up the defense. The Trojans missed a field goal, keeping the Buffs alive.

CU needed six and needed it quick. They got the touchdown but it took four minutes and 15 seconds, their longest scoring drive of the day. A mind-numbing sequence with plenty of runs for the Buffs and all of it felt too little, too late.

So now the Buffs, without any timeouts, were down seven with under two minutes to play needed an onside kick.

“If we had gotten that ball last we would’ve gone down there and scored. We knew that, everyone knows that.” Sanders said of his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders. “He’s unflappable, a dynamic player.”

The Buffs didn’t get the bounce and that was game.

It wasn’t the only poorly executed special teams play. A blocked punt, missed field hurt the Buffs big time in their bid, as did an odd failed two-point conversion.

“Wonderful win,” Sanders joked. “We played our hearts out… coaches included, we didn’t give up, we had multiple opportunities to give up. We sustained to the end.”

CU was just a few timeouts, playcalls and maybe a bounce from winning.

“We gotta fix the issues we are having but overall I am really proud of the young men, coaches and student body,” Coach Prime said. I’m proud of the way we represented Boulder today.”

The players that the coaches got went toe to toe against the Trojans, and for year one that in itself is impressive. The Buffaloes have never beaten USC and now who knows when the two outgoing Pac-12 schools will meet again, but if you needed another test as to where CU was heading, you got a positive answer against USC, even with some costly mistakes.

“We give them credit, they made some really tremendous competitive plays, a couple of plays where our guys are right there and they made the plays and that’s a lot of time when you have two good teams and really good individual players out there,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said. “That’s what it comes down to, are those competitive plays.

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