Deion Sanders’s Colorado failed to live up to the hype—again.
After all the talk about finishing the season strong, Colorado’s gridiron heroes looked like they didn’t want to be anywhere near the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night. And based on the lethargic pregame trot of their mascot, Ralphie the Buffalo, neither did anyone else on the Colorado sidelines. In the end, Deion Sanders could only look on in horror as the Buffaloes were outmatched and outclassed by a far superior Brigham Young University football program.
No one can say it hasn’t been an eventful two years in Boulder. The lowly Buffaloes, once a powerhouse of the sport, got a shot of much-needed adrenaline with the arrival of Prime Time. Suddenly, the Colorado roster was full of talent and the sidelines full of celebrities. Folsom Field hadn’t been this loud in decades. Everyone was eager to see what Sanders could produce.
Late in the 2024 season, Colorado held its playoff destiny in its own hands. If they could beat Kansas in Lawrence, the path was set to make the first-of-its-kind, 12-team college football playoffs. After the disappointment of 2023, here was the perfect opportunity to answer the critics. With the football nation watching, Colorado let Jayhawks RB Devin Neal run for 207 yards to go along with three touchdowns and lost 37–21 in what was never a close game.
The usual faults that have haunted Sanders’s two seasons in Colorado were on full display. Bad penalties, poor defense, maddening quarterback play, and head-scratching coaching decisions all hampered the Buffaloes that day. Though Colorado would finish a respectable 9–4, and 4th in the B12, the dreams of competing for a national championship fell flat—again.
It wasn’t for a lack of talent that the Buffaloes failed to live up to the incessant hype that followed the team all over the country these last two years. In Shadeur Sanders (Deion’s son) and Travis Hunter (the Heisman Trophy winner), Colorado had a one-two punch that many programs could only dream of. And they had them for two, full healthy years.
But neither of the young men, who are projected to be early selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, lived up to the hype when the going got tough. One play, early in this weekend’s embarrassing 36-14 loss at the Alamo Bowl, perfectly summed up Shadeur’s entire career at Colorado. Down 10–0 and facing a 3rd and 3 at the BYU 7-yard line early in the second quarter, Colorado needed points. Shadeur took the snap, and with the offensive line breaking down in front of him, attempted to outrun the outstretched arms of several BYU defenders, each move pushing him further and further from the goal line, until he ultimately took a 27-yard sack. Instead of throwing the ball away, Shadeur’s antics turned a chip shot field goal into a 48-yarder which was promptly missed.
For anyone who watched the Buffaloes this season, that sequence was nothing new. In three years of college football (one season spent at Deion pere’s Jackson State) Shadeur has yet to learn when to throw the ball away. Getting rid of the ball when the play is dead is a quality of humility and maturity, one that all the great quarterbacks are forced to exhibit at one time or another. It’s about knowing when you’re beat, and in doing so, living to see another down. Instead, Shadeur attempted to make a highlight reel play and the Buffs paid dearly at a time when they desperately needed points.
And then there’s Travis Hunter, who plays both sides of the ball and has certainly made his share of highlight reel plays throughout two sparkling seasons in Colorado that ended with him winning the Heisman Trophy. Hunter beat out Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty, whom I profiled in October, for the nation’s top player award despite the soft-spoken Broncos running back amassing 30 touchdowns and more than 2,500 yards from scrimmage this season. Whatever the voters saw in the lead up to the Alamo Bowl was sorely missing from Hunter in San Antonio on Saturday.
The two-way star was a shadow of himself outside a dazzling touchdown catch in the 3rd quarter when the game was already out of reach. His play on the defensive end was roundly mocked on ???? following the game as videos showed the slight-framed cornerback being dragged into the end zone by BYU’s LJ Martin.
It’s a wonder why either of the top-five projected draft picks played in the bowl game at all, especially considering the performances they turned in. In some ways, the game spoke to a larger issue with the college football bowl system as the open transfer portal has turned meaningless bowl games into even more meaningless bowl games with the added feature of backups and freshman playing undisciplined and hard-to-watch football. Hindsight being 20/20, Hunter and Shadeur should’ve sat the game out completely. They would have been dragged on ????, but that’s happening anyway—and their draft profiles are being questioned.
Which brings us back to Deion. Prime Time. The man who wears a big, golden crucifix. I like Deion. I really like Deion. For all the bling and smacktalk, Deion’s been nothing short of a revelation for Colorado, a team that many college football fans were eager to see become competitive again. I still remember Kordell Stewart and the vaunted Buffs of old and it’s been exciting to watch the black and gold make headway on the national stage again. It’s been great for college football as millions of casual fans tune in to see Colorado every week, a team that was until two seasons ago a reliable bottom-feeder in its conference.
But as much as I like Deion and the work he does off the field to prepare and heal his young men, some of whom come from extremely broken upbringings, as a coach, he’s left much to be desired in his first two seasons at Colorado. The Buffs have gone 1–8 against top-25 ranked teams and only 2–9 against power conference squads with at least a .500 record. Nebraska, which finished 7–6 this year, put a licking on the Buffs right out of the gate, tamping down a much-hyped offseason that had some asking if Colorado could win the whole thing. All of the little things that Colorado got wrong were on full display in that shellacking.
With his two sons and his Heisman Trophy winner out of eligibility, where the Buffaloes go from here is anyone’s guess. Deion has signed the top rated high school quarterback in the country for next year and also secured a commitment from one of the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal. He’s also won a transfer cadre of top-ranked lineman to beef up what has been a weak offensive front. The best thing I can say about Deion is, as of this moment, he’s not jumping ship to another power 4 school or the NFL. For the casual fan, the show goes on. And for those of us who want to see Deion bring Colorado back to its past glory, here’s hoping he turns Fool’s Gold into 24-karat supremacy.
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