For better or worse, the gridiron doesn’t offer any sympathy. That’s why even after Deion Sanders announced that he would be undergoing a hasty surgery in the middle of the season to help combat his blood clots, his Colorado Buffaloes were still listed as underdogs ahead of this weekend’s matchup against the no. 22-ranked Iowa State Cyclones.
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After weeks of inconsistent quarterback play and a lack of defensive stops, Colorado managed to stop the bleeding and ended their loss streak at two. The fact that they were able to do so against a ranked opponent certainly adds a bit of flavor to things, but given the recent adversity, with Deion undergoing his 16th surgery, a win against anybody would have meant a whole lot to Sanders and the rest of his herd.
“It means a lot, we won,” Sanders noted during his post-game press conference before suggesting that he’ll finally allow himself to enjoy a nice post-game meal.
“It’s different, it’s a different feel, a different mood. Ya lady wants to grab something to eat. Usually I don’t want to be seen after a loss, I might actually go do it. You don’t wanna go nowhere when you get your butt kicked… I’ll go and eat somewhere because we won.”
As far as the on-field product goes, Sanders simply seemed thrilled about his offense finally finding a sense of identity through Joseph Williams. “We’ve gotta get it to him,” Sanders asserted. “That’s it. Straight up.”
The NFL Hall of Famer also suggested that “We’ve got a great receiving core. These guys can play.” Colorado’s WR room helped Kaidon Salter towards a 255 passing yards and two touchdown performance against a defense that, prior to Saturday afternoon, was allowing the 31st lowest average points per game in the nation.
There are only five games left on the slate for the Buffaloes, but Sanders will likely be looking to make the most of each and every single one of them. It’s clear that Colorado still has a ways to go before it can be considered a true threat to the national rankings, meaning that they’ll need to assess as much of their in-house talent as possible prior to this coming off-season.
From there, it’ll be up to the recruitment efforts of Sanders to ensure that the program can successfully move on from the Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders era. It’s also worth remembering that the ink on Sanders’ five-year $54-million contract extension is still relatively fresh.
Suffice to say, there’s plenty of work to be done, and Colorado will be expecting him to do it. After all, there’s no such thing as a free ride in the world of coaching.
