Deion Sanders takes responsibility for epic CU Buffs collapse

“Y’all just got me f***ing fired,” uttered Mike MacIntyre to his staff midgame through his headset as the Colorado Buffaloes blew a 31-3 second-half lead to the Oregon State Beavers in 2018.

It would be the worst of a seven-game losing streak that ended that season and pushed Colorado to fire MacIntyre months after signing him to a contract extension. The Buffaloes haven’t really recovered from that and are still seeking bowl eligibility for the second time since 2007 in a full season three coaches later.

The Buffaloes were anything away from riding into their bye week at 5-2 while up 29-0, instead they allowed Stanford their biggest comeback in school history, dropping 46-43.

While it’s unknown right now what a seemingly despondent Deion Sanders said through the intercom, unlike MacIntyre, he was ready to take the blame just moments after the double-overtime loss.

the zoom on Deion is 🤌 pic.twitter.com/0nO6ZrNTLX

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 14, 2023

“If you’re going to point fingers point it at me, because if I allowed it, it’s on me, not him,” Sanders said about the defensive collapse regarding his coordinator Charles Kelly. “I felt complacency going into the half. I didn’t like the feeling going in at half. We come back out, here comes the complacency here comes that team that I can’t stand, that you can’t stand it, you can’t understand how in the world, that happens to us, but it did… horrible loss.”

Stanford scored three touchdowns on four offensive plays in the third quarter, cutting into CU’s 99.8% chance to win according to ESPN. It was the second score for the Cardinal that was really a sign of the blunders to come as Elic Ayomanor’s housed a 97-yard touchdown as a Buffaloes cornerback fell untouched on a slant route. Ayomanor scored the third Stanford touchdown and the final one in overtime. He caught 13 passes for 294 yards—all in the second half and mostly on Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter.

The sophomore’s much-anticipated return led to his first two touchdowns in Black and Gold but he was the key figure in the second-half collapse. Not only did Hunter allow Ayomanor the most yards by an opposing player in Colorado history, but the Buffaloes defensive back had the backbreaking penalty.

Down at the Buffs 16-yard line and 10 points on the scoreboard, Stanford had a third and seven moments into the fourth quarter. CU forced an incompletion but an illegal block on the play had Sanders take the yards and make it third and 22 and maybe a tough field goal. The Buffs forced another stop. But away from the play, Hunter picked up an unnecessary roughness call to give the Cardinal life. They scored four plays later to make it a one-possession game. It was one of 17 killer penalties called on the Buffaloes on Friday.

Hunter did pick up one of his two touchdowns on the ensuing drive but Stanford answered, forced a quick Colorado punt, and got down the field to tie it on a Joshua Karty 46-yard field goal as regulation expired.

Among the coaching blunders was the Buffs taking the ball first in overtime, which they did against Colorado State a few weeks back. Sanders wants the ball in his son Shedeur Sanders hands to set the tone. On a night the star quarterback threw for five touchdowns and 400 yards his second overtime interception on a third down gave Stanford the knowledge of only needing a field goal for the win.

There were star falls, boneheaded coaching calls, and awful mistakes across the board—that’s what it takes to blow a 99.8% chance to win just after halftime.

At least Sanders was man enough to take the blame instead of passing the buck and there’s no doubt about it—he won’t be fired anytime soon.

“We have no choice but to go for it,” Coach Prime said early Saturday morning. “It’s like this ain’t the only thing that’s going on in life. I mean, are you guys dealing with something? You’re still moving. You’re still progressing. You’re still going forward, we got to do the same darn thing. We didn’t expect that. So a lot of things that go on in life are unexpected, and this was one of them. We got to knuckle up and let’s go. We can sit down and have no pity party, y’all. Don’t feel bad for us. I mean some of y’all are ecstatic about what transpired today. And I know that, but that’s cool. We’re gonna take this one on the chin because we deserve it.”

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