Joel Klatt says clock management is the ‘weakest’ part of Deion Sanders as a coach

Deion Sanders made headlines around the college football world when he mismanaged his timeouts in Friday night’s loss and then doubled down on his poor decision on Tuesday. Him taking two timeouts home with him cost the Buffaloes their best chance to make up a seven point deficit, and it wasn’t the first time that he’s handled the clock poorly.

Colorado fans and the greater college football world know that the clock management side of coaching are arguably his worst trait. Someone who took note was Joel Klatt, an analyst at Fox Sports and one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the Buffaloes. He was not pleased with how Prime fumbled Friday’s situation, and spoke about it Wednesday on “Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth” on Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan.

“The weakest part of Coach Prime as a coach is his clock management, by a wide margin. They continue to struggle in this regard every single year, and I thought that it would start to improve and it did not. I was incredibly unhappy and displeased, if you will, with the way that that went because you can’t just take your timeouts into the locker room,” Klatt said.

For anyone questioning Klatt’s credibility, he has the fourth-most passing yards in program history (7,708) and the fifth-most passing touchdowns in program history (46). He was the MVP of the 2004 Houston Bowl, the last postseason contest the Buffs have won. He also threw for 402 yards and four touchdowns in the 2003 Rocky Mountain Showdown, his first start for the black and gold.

Klatt said that the decision by Sanders to not call a timeout after first or second down on that final drive cost the black and gold a handful of valuable opportunities to push the ball down the field.

“They gave themselves no chance. They could’ve saved probably three, more like four snaps of the football just through management, and four snaps is a big deal, it’s a massive deal. That continues to be a disappointment and it’s certainly the weakest part of what they’ve got going as a program and it has to improve,” he said.

The Buffs now have three easier opponents on the schedule to attempt to iron out the clock management issues. However, if the woes are still prevalent when BYU comes to town in Week 5, it might be a sign that Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter carried more of a load than people originally thought.

Listen to “Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth” from 6-10 a.m. MDT weekdays on Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan.

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