BOULDER, Colo. – Colorado football coach Deion Sanders opened his post-game news conference Thursday night by issuing an apology. But it wasn’t because of how his team played in a 31-26 win at home against North Dakota State.
Instead, he was just hot after the air-conditioning had been turned off.
“They have the propensity to turn the air off to save some money,” Sanders said. “I don’t know why we try to save money unless we’re broke around here. But now it’s hot, right? I apologize on behalf of the university. We can do better than that.”
Sanders then told everybody how he really felt – not just hot but bothered over how close his team came to another collapse at the end.
“You ever felt like you won but you didn’t win?” he asked.
That’s kind of how it went Thursday to start Sanders’ second season at Colorado. After a hot start on offense, the Buffaloes almost should have apologized for something much more careless – bizarre time management down the stretch and another slip-up by the defense. Otherwise, Colorado got two more explosive performances from their two biggest stars: quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Travis Hunter.
Shedeur Sanders, son of Deion, completed 26 of 34 passes for 445 yards and four touchdowns, including three to Hunter in front of 49,438 fans at Folsom Field. The win snaps a six-game losing streak for all of them dating to last year.
Deion Sanders still indicated the close call at the end was at least partly due to his quarterback son’s desire to get cute and launch long passes instead of running the ball to run out the clock.
“I’m just reminding him of the darn clock,” Deion Sanders said. “ I say, `You see that big thing up there? That’s the clock. Those numbers up there running down like that? That’s for you, OK? Look at that.”
What else did Deion Sanders say?
He said 31 NFL scouts had come to see his team.
“They saw what they came to see,” he said.
He also noted Colorado is one step closer to one of its goals this season – a bowl game appearance to honor Colorado’s 99-year-old superfan, Peggy Coppom.
Yet this one still almost ended in disaster against a team from the lower Football Championship Subdivision. Colorado held a 31-20 lead after a spectacular 3-yard touchdown catch from Hunter with 7:57 remaining.
All the Buffs had to do after that was hold the fort on defense.
They didn’t. Instead they allowed a 20-yard touchdown run from Bison quarterback Cam Miller to cut Colorado’s lead to 31-26 with 2:19 left. The Bison’s scoring drive went 75 yards in 11 plays and lasted 5:38..
“Let’s move on,” Deion Sanders said. “I’m gonna try my best to hold back my anger, but we got the W so I’m happy.”
What about that time management at the end?
Colorado had two timeouts with 2:19 left as it started its final drive on its own 25-yard line. But Shedeur Sanders threw four passes instead of running the ball to drain the clock. One of those came on first down with 1:41 left – a long pass on the left side of the field intended for receiver LaJohntay Wester. It fell incomplete and stopped the clock with 1:34 remaining.
Shedeur’s father said afterward that his son was trying to show some love to Wester after two other Colorado receivers already had big games − Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr., who had seven catches for 198 yards and a touchdown.
“Shedeur is such a good kid; sometimes it costs him, because at the end of the game we just want to run the ball (and) let’s get out of here,” Deion Sanders said. “And he took a shot to LaJohntay because he wanted LaJohntay to have a big play … and he knew he was gonna have a one-on-one matchup. He just didn’t put it out there far enough. But that’s his character. I’m like, ‘Dawg. C’mon dawg. Not right now. It’s not time to be the good guy right now. It’s time to … put this game away.”
The incompletion intended for Wester came on the next play after Wester drew a pass-interference penalty on another long pass attempt. Fortunately for the Buffs, the penalty gave them a first down. But the drive eventually stalled and the Buffs punted back to the Bison, who fielded it at their own 4-yard line with 31 seconds remaining.
North Dakota State then ran six plays for 88 yards, culminating with a Hail Mary from Miller as time expired. The pass worked – to an extent. Miller’s 49-yard pass was caught by receiver Tyler Terhark. It just didn’t go far enough, with Terhark coming down at the 4-yard line as the crowd at Folsom Field held its breath.
What did Shedeur Sanders say about the time management?
Shedeur Sanders acknowledged afterward he needed to manage the clock better.
“Everything in my life, I always was able learn from it,” Shedeur Sanders said. “So it’s not too many mistakes you’re going to see me I made twice. So that’s just something I’m going to learn and understand that. And even if it looks super tempting… still, you just gotta go with it. So it’s a lot of situations like play clock and everything that we’re getting back into the flow of the game. But I’m just excited about the starting point and excited about getting everybody involved.”
His father indicated he already talked to him about it and also downplayed concerns about the running game and offensive line, both sore spots from last year, when the Buffs finished 4-8 and ranked last in the nation in rushing yards per game with 68.9. On Thursday, five Colorado players combined for 59 rushing yards on 23 carries. Shedeur Sanders was sacked only once but often still felt pressure from crumbling pass protection.
‘You would love to run the ball a little more, but shoot, when you got over 500 yards of total offense, I’m pretty good,’ Deion Sanders said. ‘I go home (and) I’m gonna sleep good, really good… so I’m cool with that. We would like to see a little more balance, but what is balance? Balance is wins, really. That’s what balance is.’
About that Colorado defense
North Dakota State led 20-17 at halftime after scoring on each of its first four possessions. It looked like the Buffs defense from last year even though they overhauled the roster and brought in several promising defenders, especially on the defensive line. The difference this time came after halftime.
‘Coach chewed us out at halftime, let us know what we got to do,’ said Hunter, who had three tackles. ‘We got to stop them. We got to get stops.’
The Bison punted on their first two possessions in the second half and could have suffered a shutout after halftime if not for that one letdown by Colorado’s defense.
Colorado next plays at Nebraska on Sept. 7.
“We got a target on our back,” Hunter said. “. We got to go out and win. We gotta make a statement. We gotta let everybody know we’re here to stay.’
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com