The Colorado Buffaloes are through their Week 6 bye and onto arguably their toughest test of the season, with the No. 11 Utah Utes coming to Boulder Saturday night.
After three straight losses and an offense that has struggled, Deion Sanders and his staff are looking for solutions, and Coach Prime shed light on how the program attacked the bye week in his Tuesday morning press conference.
Sanders discusses the challenges Utah presents, who the Buffaloes' starting quarterback will be, the leaked playbook, special-teams miscues and more.
Here are a few takeaways from Sanders' pre-Utah press conference.
Isaac Wilson is Colorado's starting quarterback
When asked who will start against Saturday, Sanders hesitated before saying, "you know who is starting." He eventually was pressed into saying Wilson directly.
"I can get on the elevator with Isaac -- this really happened -- the door opened and I said, 'Isaac, throw the ball to the guys on our team.'… Then, when he does something, 'Yeah, what you got to say now, Coach?"
"That's our relationship," Sanders added. "We can get down like that."
The two clearly have a strong rapport, which did not seem as evident with Julian Lewis.
Wilson gets the chance to go up against his former team, which Sanders noted is not a factor, and that his quarterback is "always up to the task."
Sanders on playbook being leaked: 'It happens'
Sanders gave an interesting response when asked about several plays being leaked before the Texas Tech game. He dismissed the leak as trivial, saying that because the Buffaloes scored on the opening drive, it wasn't a big deal.
"That happens sometimes," Sanders said of the leaked playbook. "I've seen that, heard of that on the pro level as well as the collegiate level. But I think we scored on the first drive, so I guess it didn't work."
It was a surprising way to address a seemingly significant issue within the program. Sanders was asked whether he needed to dig deeper; he said he didn't and was moving on. We will see if there are any lasting effects.
Utah will be Colorado's toughest opponent
Sanders gave his respect to Utah's program, including head coach Morgan Scalley. Coach Prime noted that the Utes are "probably the best team we're going to face this season." He said they are solid in every facet, and facing them will be a "daunting task."
The Utes deploy an elite offense led by a quarterback duo of Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin that gives defenses several looks, especially in the run game. Add that to an elite running back in Wayshawn Parker, and the Utes have a backfield that is nearly impossible to stop.
"Dual QBS. They do some things that create problems," Sanders said about Utah's offense. "These guys [the quarterbacks] are good. We feel like we're up to the challenge and up to the task. I like the guys I have in the locker room. I really do."
Offensive philosophy: run the football
Colorado's offense lacked an identity through the first five games. In some games, they ran the ball more than 30 times. In others, such as against Texas Tech, they attempted over 40 passes. Under offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, Colorado has run the ball successfully more than any team in the Coach Prime era. That should be a staple of the offense, but far too often Marion has abandoned the running game. Sanders hopes that won't be the case anymore.
"We don't want to throw the ball 40-plus times," Sanders said Tuesday. " We don't want to get into that because we're not great when we throw it that much. We want ti keep the pass attempts between 17 and 24. We can run the ball. We've proven that."
Deion Sanders 'not tripping' over special team mistakes
Special teams have been an issue for every Coach Prime-led team since he took the Colorado job before the 2023 season. Whether it's penalties, kick or punt coverage, field goal kicking, or kickoffs, it's been bad at some point in the last four seasons. This year, every facet has had issues, most notably against Texas Tech, when Colorado didn't have enough players on the field to attempt a field goal. Coach Prime called a timeout to address the issue, but the team still had too few players on the field afterward.
He blamed the personnel issue on a miscommunication. Still, he said that with the other problems plaguing the unit, whether it be the kicker, a returner, or the entire unit, he is not "tripping about."
"We went over a lot of situational football, special teams as well," Sanders said about his team's work during the bye week. "We did a lot of things that can solve problems if they come up, especially with personnel and substitutions."
This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Five takeaways from Deion Sanders' press conference before Utah