Prime confirms he learned nothing from not calling timeouts

Days after mishandling Colorado’s timeouts in the Buffaloes’ season-opening loss to Georgia Tech, head coach Deion Sanders is doubling down on his decison to keep the clock running.

The Buffs went home with two timeouts in their pocket despite getting the ball back down seven with 67 seconds left. They were only able to run six plays due to two instances where CU let the clock keep running. It left Colorado with a last gasp Hail Mary from 50 yards out instead of maybe something better.

This isn’t even the first time the issue of stoppages has come up with Sanders, though in his first two years, his son Shedeur Sanders bailed him out with some perfectly timed late-game magic. That wasn’t the case with new starter Kaidon Salter, who led an overall sloppy operation all night long in the 27-20 loss.

The team’s maligned offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, who Sanders defended a lot during his Tuesday media availability, started things off with a swing pass to the running back that went backwards. Colorado kept the clock running.

“First down, we throw a lateral pass, we lose four or five yards,” Sanders said. “Do you call a timeout there? No, you’re right there. You don’t call a timeout there. You’ve got to go. You gotta go. So you’re running tempo, right?”

With their time almost cut in half already, they finally got another snap off, an 11-yard pass just shy of the first down. The Buffaloes again chose to keep the clock running.

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“So the next play, what you gain against 14 yards,” Sanders said. “Now you got third and one, right? Do you call a timeout there? Third and one, you get the first down. The clock stops, correct?

In a long scramble play, Kaidon Salter finally stopped the clock by running past the first down line and getting out of bounds. The Buffs made it 14 yards to their own 39-yard line, and now there were just eight seconds left.

“The clock stopped, okay? The scrambled play, he ran out of bounds. The clock stopped,” Sanders said. “So when was I supposed to call the timeout? I’m just getting an elephant out of the room.”

CU lost; they never called a timeout. Sanders, after the game, stood by his decison though he misremembered some of the details. Upon getting a chance to go over it all, Sanders stood by his decison and his inital take — showing little growth as a football coach.

On Friday, there were two perfect chances for Colorado to stop the clock. It’s almost perfect, because the Buffaloes had two timeouts left. And they probably should have a third to use, but they had already called it in a wild spot in the third quarter because their punt group was wrong on a fourth and nine. If the Buffs took a penalty, the Yellow Jackets probably would’ve punted anyway at fourth and four.

So to answer your question, that’s what it takes for Deion Sanders to call a timeout. And we’ve seen it time and again in Boulder. He does not manage the clock at all. He’ll only blow the whistle when he doesn’t like an alignment, has to think on a decison more, or the wrong group is on the field.

Coach Prime has not finally learned his lesson about in-game decisions. He told us on Tuesday again that his clock management will remain subpar moving forward.

The Buffs host Delaware this weekend, a team they shouldn’t need a two-minute drill against. Plus, a new quarterback may be running CU’s offense. Top recruit Juju Lewis is expected to see some action for the black and gold during the contest, according to Sanders.