Deion Sanders sends strong message to Buffs after CU’s big choke
Oct 14, 2023, 1:40 AM | Updated: Oct 16, 2023, 12:52 pm
The Colorado Buffaloes suffered their worst choke job in program history, blowing a 29-0 lead to a lousy Stanford Cardinal team in Boulder on Friday night.
The double overtime 46-43 loss is the kind that gets coaches fired, sticks with programs for the long haul, and ends up on many epitaphs. If Colorado again misses a postseason bowl we can look back at any number of singular plays from the collapse and say, “What if?”
But there is no what-if, not for a defense that allowed the most yards by a wideout playing against them in school history. Not for the defensive staff, which allowed 46 points in the second half and overtimes. Not for the offense who only managed seven points in the regulation second half. Not for star player Travis Hunter, who had the key penalty. Not for co-star Shedeur Sanders, who had the game’s lone turnover. Certainly not the entire time who was called for 17 penalties. And of course not the entire coaching staff who allowed the train to derail when everyone saw it coming, adding their own blunders along the way.
This type of gut check was like a punch to the chin of the Buffs and that’s where Deion Sanders says they’ll take it. Even though as an athlete himself he never endured such a collapse, Sanders had a crystal clear message for his team after the game.
“I just said in the locker room to the team is they got to make up their mind. Are they in love with this game? Are they in like with it,” Sanders said of his ask early Saturday morning. “Because when you love something you give to it unconditionally. You give everything you got to it, but when you like it, it’s just the button you push. You like something, like that’s what they do on social media. So we got to figure out, do they love it or do they like it?”
“And it’s hard for me because I love this. I love it,” Sanders said. “And without a shadow of a doubt, I am truly 100% in love with this thing. And I just want people to match me, just match my passion. Match my heart, match my love, match my consistency, just match my mannerisms. Just match every darn thing I give to this game. I love this. Sadly, I love it so much but the game doesn’t even occupy the ability to love you back. That’s a strange love isn’t it?”
The shell-shocked Buffs have a bye this week after dropping Friday night heartbreakingly to 4-3 on the year.
***
