Sanders didn’t hold back in his postgame presser
Last Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is a day that Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes want to forget.
The Buffs, fresh off a four-game win streak and an 8-2 overall record, were trampled by the Kansas Jayhawks’ prolific ground game. KU ran for 331 yards against the Buffaloes, with running back Devin Neal finishing the contest with 207 yards on 37 attempts.
Colorado’s defense has experienced something of a renaissance this season under first-year defensive coordinator Robert Livingston. Last weekend against Utah, CU allowed the Utes to rush for only 31 yards in a full 60-minute football game.
This weekend at Arrowhead, the Buffaloes reverted back to their old ways. The tackling was suspect at best, KU’s slot receivers were torching the CU secondary in the absence of Preston Hodge, and the Jayhawks’ ground game looked unstoppable against Colorado’s front seven. It’s hard to win football games when you allow 300+ yards on the ground, something the Buffs know all too well.
“[Kansas] didn’t punt one time,” said Deion Sanders in his postgame presser. “Their rushing was alarming. You can’t win when a team has rushed for 331 yards on you. That’s not indicative of who we’ve been and who we are.”
It’s no secret that Colorado didn’t play its best game against Kansas, for whatever reason. The refereeing was suspect, multiple key players were out, and many other just had an off day. After the game, Coach Prime shot down all three of those explanations, offering up his own: Colorado got complacent with its recent success.
“We started smelling ourselves a little bit,” said Sanders. “That’s what I just told our team. We got intoxicated with the success. We got intoxicated with the multitude of articles and the assumption that we are this or that. We did not play CU football, therefore we got our butts kicked,”
Over the last month, the national media finally started giving Deion and the Buffaloes the respect they’ve been fighting for over the last sixteen months. Colorado was ranked as high as 16th in the AP Poll and was the betting favorite to win the Big 12. Sanders thinks that the praise got to the team, which played a factor in a crushing loss to the Jayhawks.
“Attention is intoxicating to some people,” Sanders said. “We’ve gotta fix that, that’s on me.”
The magnitude of Colorado’s loss to KU wasn’t lost on Sanders either. CU controlled their own destiny going into Saturday, clinching a Big 12 title game birth if they won out for the remainder of the regular season. Now, after losing to Kansas and Arizona State beating BYU, the Buffaloes sit on the outside looking in.
“When you’re in control of your own destiny, it’s a wonderful thing…” Sanders said. “If you don’t do nothing with it, that’s on you. We controlled our own destiny and we fumbled it.”
While it’s not impossible for CU to play for a College Football Playoff spot in Dallas, they’re going to need a lot of help next Saturday. They’ll need two of the following three things to occur:
- Arizona State loses to Arizona
- Iowa State loses to K-State
- BYU loses to Houston
Along with those losses, Colorado needs to beat Oklahoma State next Friday, where they’ve officially opened as early 15.5-point favorites.
Colorado fans will have to sit and sweat out next Saturday, hoping for the dominos to fall in the right way. In a season where chaos has plagued every moment of the Big 12 slate, anything is possible.
Don’t give up hope yet, Buffs fans. We may get help from some unexpected sources next weekend… (Go Coogs, Bear Down, EMAW!)