After being shut out in the first half Saturday by Utah, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders’ team came out firing in the third quarter to take a four-point lead, and it felt as if they were going to keep the momentum going into the fourth quarter until the Utes scored a touchdown at the quarter’s end.
Ultimately, the Buffaloes fell 27-24, but despite the loss, Sanders expressed his approval for how his team performed.
“This is something I never do: After a loss, I stood up on the podium and told those kids, ‘I’m really proud of you’ because they fought, they didn’t give up, they had a chance, and I just knew, even when we got that last penalty,” he said referring to Isaac Wilson’s forward pass.
“I just knew Elliott (Arnold) was going to hit that field goal, and we were going to go into overtime. I mean, he wanted it. He was kicking the heck out of the ball earlier today in touchbacks, and he said, ‘Coach, it was just one game. I’m back, baby. I’m back.’ So, I was ready to give him an opportunity to go for it.”
But the opportunity never came after what seemed like a heads up play from his quarterback was deemed a forward lateral and brought a late chunk play back significantly from where it ended.
Moving forward
Sanders said his team cleaned up a few things in the third quarter that led to a strong start in the second half. In a hard-fought loss, coach Prime said he believes his team can take this game and use it as confidence for the next games on the schedule.
“We learned truly from this. I think they really — no I don’t think, I know — they really believe that they can (win). I know that I may sound foolish, what I’m about to say, but every team that has beat us this year, I feel like we could have won. Like for some strange reason,” he said.
“I know we got our butts kicked in Northwestern, but the other losses I just felt like we had a better team, but we didn’t execute. So maybe they’re true to have a better team because they executed and they did what they had to do, but just the way we fought to the end, that there was no give up, and not only the players, but the coaches, the support staff, it was no give up whatsoever.”
He continued: “And there were some tears in there today, and I respect that, because that means that they want it, and that they love this game, they love this atmosphere, they love this team, and God bless the fans that showed in droves today. We wish to God we could have sent them home with a smile on their face, but at least we sent them home with a little hope.”
Focused on what we do
When asked about Colorado’s next opponent in Oklahoma State, Sanders said his team is not as concerned with its opponents, but rather what it is capable of.
“We are really focused on what we’re capable of doing and why we’re not doing it, and let’s figure it out so we can get it going and that’s where the points come from,” he said.
“We talked about really understanding who you really are and what you’re capable of, but we just got to one day marry it all together, and you’re going to get the true us, and we’re praying that day comes soon, because I don’t like to lose whatsoever.”
Sanders said the team is going to put plenty of work in and not have a “pity party” because “ain’t nobody care.”
“We’re going to fight to the end. I mean, the fans deserve it, everybody deserves it, the kids deserve it, and before we departed, we talked about playing for two entities: the name on the front and the name on the back.”
The guy at quarterback
Sanders joked around a little bit with Wilson’s passion for the game as he said some plays were not in the playbook, but, “we love him because he gonna fight to the end. And he — and they know — they just got to stay alive, and Isaac is going to try his best to to do whatever he needs to do to to make it happen.”
And despite mistakes, Wilson, who now has five interceptions through two games, will continue to get more opportunities.
“We don’t count his mistakes. We count the passion and the love that he plays with. Yes, it hurt us a bit, but he knows how to help us a bit, so it’s not about that,” Sanders said.
“If you ever got to know him, and if you could ask these guys how he is, they’re going to say, “Hey man, Isaac is our guy.” So I’m going to keep on loving him, keep on developing him, keep on giving him opportunities, and he put us in a position and gave us an opportunity to win this game. We got to do better. It’s not a one-man band.”