Deion Sanders saw Buffs players laughing after 41-7 loss to Northwestern: ‘I’m going to put my foot in it, not on it’

Deion Sanders saw players laughing after Northwestern dismantled Colorado 41-7 on Saturday night at Martin Stadium

Sep 20, 2026, 1:31 AM

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes looks on agains...

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Deion Sanders warned his team during the week. He pulled up the records of the two opponents Colorado had already beaten. He told them, plainly, that they hadn’t proven a thing.

It didn’t matter.

Northwestern dismantled Colorado 41-7 on Saturday night at Martin Stadium, handing the Buffaloes their first loss of the season in a game that was effectively over early in the third quarter. Four turnovers. Three turnover on downs. Nine penalties. A 13-minute disadvantage in time of possession. The Buffs moved the ball — 348 total yards — and had almost nothing to show for it.

But when Sanders stepped to the podium afterward, the score wasn’t what had him seething. It was what he saw walking off the field.

“I don’t understand how you can have joy in a loss, especially when I’m upset and I’m walking right behind you,” Sanders said. “I don’t understand that. I can’t never understand that because I want to win every darn thing. And I can’t understand how in the world do you find joy or you could find a laughing manner when I’m right behind you walking in.”

He paused.

“I don’t understand that, and I addressed it, and I’m going to put my foot in it, not on it.”

Deion Sanders says he had to address Colorado players after seeing them laughing following the 41-7 loss to Northwestern. pic.twitter.com/EQ6sihjrXG

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 20, 2026

Sanders didn’t name names. It was aimed at the locker room that just produced the fifth-worst loss by margin in the four-year Coach Prime era and it comes on the eve of Big 12 play.

What made the blowout sting more was the context Sanders himself provided. He revealed that earlier in the week, he’d tried to serve his team what he called “humble pie,” showing them the résumés of Georgia Tech and Weber State — the two teams CU had beaten to open the season — and telling them those wins meant nothing.

“I told them we hadn’t beaten anybody,” Sanders said. “Nothing against them, but you got to serve them some humble pie when they come in off a tremendous win. You let them know you in for a test. That ain’t how life really is.”

Julian Lewis threw two interceptions — the first picks of his college career — and the Buffs coughed up two more fumbles. Three consecutive Colorado drives in the second quarter ended in turnovers, and Northwestern converted each one into points. All at a time when it felt like the black and gold was all over the home team.

Wildcats quarterback Aidan Chiles, who Sanders praised as playing “the best football game I’ve ever seen him play,” accounted for five touchdowns and carved up a defense that couldn’t get off the field.

Sanders said his preparation during the week had been thorough. His staff was ready. The players, he believed, were ready. And yet none of it translated.

“You could have never told me that this was going to be what it was during the week,” he said. “The way we prepared, the way we were ready — we were ready for this one. But the turnovers and penalties, there’s no way you can win like that.”

So the question becomes whether this is a one-game aberration or something more revealing. Big 12 play begins next Saturday. But we don’t have to wait a week to find out what this team is made of.

Sanders said he was watching his players closely in the second half, not just for effort but for character — looking for who would fight through adversity and who would fold.

“Would they quit? Would they fight through it?” he said. “Those are the things that you look for in those moments.”

Some fought. Others, apparently, found something funny.

“Not that this game don’t matter. It matters. It matters a lot,” Sanders said. “Because you expose some liabilities on the film and they’re going to take advantage of that.”