SALT LAKE CITY – Following arguably probably the most embarrassing defeat of his three seasons at Colorado, Deion Sanders stored his composure in a postgame press convention Saturday evening at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
That’s commonplace for Sanders, who handles losses publicly higher than many head coaches. Inside, nonetheless, the Buffaloes head coach was fuming.
A 53-7 loss to Utah – which moved into the Related Press Prime 25 at No. 24 on Sunday – uncovered a plethora of CU’s flaws and Sanders stated this isn’t the kind of loss to simply flush and transfer on from, a minimum of not immediately.
“No, no, not proper now,” he stated. “Did you see my tone? I like you guys (within the media). You guys are fantastic and I’m attempting to be as nice as I can, however it’s what it’s. You already know I don’t sugarcoat nothing. It’s what it’s. You already know we gonna begin with me.”
For the Buffs (3-5, 1-4 Large 12) to salvage their season, nonetheless, they’ll need to get previous this one rapidly.
Arizona (4-3, 1-3) will probably be in Boulder on Saturday. The Large 12 introduced Sunday that the sport is slated for a 5 p.m. kickoff at Folsom Discipline and will probably be broadcast on FS1. After a strong begin to the season, Arizona has misplaced two in a row and three of 4.
That recreation is adopted by a visit to West Virginia (2-6, 0-5), which has misplaced 5 in a row.
Each video games are winnable, if the Buffs can bounce again from Saturday’s debacle.
“We simply can’t stop,” quarterback Kaidon Salter stated. “I really feel like this can be a staff that gained’t stop and is simply going to maintain on going onerous as we are able to go and simply being us, man.
“We’ve simply received to go on the market and have enjoyable with the sport, go on the market and execute the sport plan, simply carry on practising onerous and simply go on the market and play soccer. I imply, that’s what we’ve received to do and I really feel like we’re able to ending this season off sturdy.”
Saturday was, by far, CU’s worst efficiency of the season. The truth is, it was the one time in eight video games that the Buffs merely had no shot to win within the second half.
Utah dominated in each approach doable, dashing for 422 yards, racking up 587 complete yards and holding CU to 140 yards. The Buffs didn’t get on the board till 9 minutes, 3 seconds to play within the recreation, when backup quarterback Ryan Staub scored on a 1-yard run to chop the deficit to 46-7.
CU nonetheless has a shot to get to 6 wins and attain bowl eligibility, however that appeared like an unattainable objective within the moments after Saturday’s loss.
“We ain’t excited about no bowl proper now,” Sanders stated. “We excited about this second. Let’s grade this second. Let’s determine why this occurred. And let’s make sure that we (take the steps so) that it don’t occur once more, however let’s establish why. … I have to know all these whys earlier than we might transfer on and even take into consideration one thing down the road.”
Sanders and his employees will spend numerous time attempting determine why Saturday occurred.
Defensively it was a catastrophe, as Utah freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin, making his first profession begin, appeared like a Heisman Trophy candidate. When requested how his dialog went with defensive coordinator Robert Livingston after the sport, Sanders stated bluntly, “Wasn’t nice.”
It was a catastrophe offensively, too. An offensive line that has been strong all season was manhandled by Utah. Salter had a horrible recreation statistically (9-of-22, 37 yards, one interception), however spent a lot of his evening attempting to run away from unblocked or poorly blocked Utes.
Salter was sacked 5 occasions and Professional Soccer Focus marked seven of his 13 incompletions as “throwaways” to flee extra sacks. A kind of resulted in an intentional grounding penalty ultimately zone, giving Utah a security and a 19-0 lead.
Total, Utah blitzed Salter and Staub on 24 of 31 dropbacks, choosing up seven sacks on the evening.
Whereas the Buffs spend the subsequent couple of days attempting to determine the whys, Salter and linebacker Jeremiah Brown emphatically agreed that the gamers are nonetheless assured they’ll transfer previous this one and rebound.
“Oh yeah, undoubtedly,” Brown stated. “There’s no stop. No stop in any respect. I like this staff.”
Initially Printed:
