Deion Sanders explains why he was not happy with Arizona State win
Colorado might have got the win Saturday against Arizona State, but Deion Sanders wasn’t pleased with how his team got there. After trailing for most of the first three quarters, the Buffaloes came back to take a 21-17 lead with 14:32 remaining on Shedeur Sanders‘ first touchdown pass of the game.
Colorado later kicked a field goal to take a touchdown advantage, but the Sun Devils answered back to tie the game with 50 seconds remaining. That forced some late-game heroics from Shedeur Sanders again, as he completed a 43-yard pass to get the Buffaloes in range to kick the game-winning field goal.
At his radio show on Wednesday, Deion Sanders explained that what happened against Arizona State has become too common of a theme for Colorado this season. The coach stressed that the team has to be better at the start of games, and can’t keep relying on Shedeur to bring them back.
“I wasn’t happy,” Deion Sanders said. “You know I don’t fake it. We’re better than that. We’re better than what we displayed and we will show that this week, preferably, that we’re much better than that. That game should’ve never come to that conclusion, the way we went about it. We can’t rely on Shedeur to put on his cape every darn week and be Superman and bring us back. We gotta stop that.”
Shedeur Sanders has continuously showed up in the clutch in most of the Buffaloes’ wins this season. That began with the opener against TCU, in which he found Dylan Edwards for a 46-yard go-ahead touchdown with under five minutes remaining. He also saved the day in Week 3 against Colorado State to throw the game-winner in overtime.
Colorado at one point trailed the Rams 28-17 in the fourth quarter of that game before Shedeur rallied them to tie the game with a 45-yard touchdown. Deion Sanders explained he’d like to see the Buffaloes show up in the beginning of games, rather than putting themselves in that position.
He explained it’s not just on the players, but coaches as well.
“We need to make those plays in the first, second and third quarters,” he said. “Not just the last quarter. We gotta come ready to play at the onset. When they blow the darn whistle, we kick off or we receive, we need to be ready right then and there.
“That’s from all facets. Not just the players. Coaches, we gotta coach with the same passion in the first quarter that we do in the fourth. We gotta call it the same way in the first that we do in the fourth. We gotta be ready to go.”
The Buffaloes will aim to come more prepared this week, when they face Stanford at 10 p.m. ET on Friday at home.