MANHATTAN, Kansas – This week, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders showed his team a graphic that displayed all the games in which they were within striking distance of a win during the fourth quarter.
On Saturday, in real time, he reminded them again.
“I said, ‘Look at the scoreboard,’” Sanders said. “‘This is how much time is left. This is the score. This is the situation. What are we gonna do with it? Because we have seen the same picture 100 times.’
“And we did the same darn thing we always did, so we get the same old things we’ve always gotten.”
Saturday’s season finale at Bill Snyder Family Stadium played out much like the rest of the season, with CU bringing good effort but not enough positive execution to get the job done, as Kansas State handed the Buffs a 24-14 loss.
CU pulled within 17-14 midway through the fourth quarter and actually wound up out-gaining the Wildcats, 323-321, but it couldn’t make enough plays in the last seven minutes.
It was the sixth time this season that CU (3-9, 1-8 Big 12) had the lead or was within four points of the lead in the fourth quarter and wound up losing, making Saturday a fitting finish for a team that lost its last five games and fell woefully short of its own expectations.
After going 9-4 a year ago, this is just the third time in program history that the Buffs’ win total dropped by at least six games over the previous year. The 1962 Buffs were seven wins worse than the previous year, and the 1906 squad was six wins worse (although did have four ties).
“This fan base, the school, (athletic director Rick George), everybody deserves much better than this, and they expected much better than this,” Sanders said. “I expected much better than this, and we’re gonna give them much better than this, starting tomorrow.”
Changes? Oh yes, there will be plenty, Sanders promised.
“I see everything being different, even me,” he said.
Asked if that means different people being on the coaching staff, Sanders repeated, “I see everything being different. Even me.”
Later in his news conference, Sanders said, “I think we need to make severe changes, and we’re gonna make them.”
It’s already been reported that running backs coach Marshall Faulk is expected to be named the head coach at Southern University, but that’s not likely to be the only change on the coaching staff.
And, there will be a plethora of changes on the roster, between numerous graduations and those headed for the transfer portal.
Sanders said he’s already evaluated the program and that changes will occur quickly.
The first order of business, he said, is changing the mentality of the program.
“It’s a mentality,” he said. “A certain mentality you got to have when the game is right there, and you could take it either way. When you take it this way all the time, that’s a problem on both sides.”
From the start of the year, Sanders and other players mentioned the Buffs’ lack of leadership in the locker room. CU had great leaders in 2024, but not so much this year.
“I feel like the leader, he doesn’t try to lead; it just naturally happens,” linebacker Jeremiah Brown said. “And we just, unfortunately, didn’t have very many of those.”
Sanders will be looking for those leaders this offseason, whether it’s on the coaching staff, support staff or on the roster.
“You don’t develop mentality,” Sanders said. “You select mentality. You pick mentality.
“I’m not going to say it’s tremendously difficult (to find strong mentality in recruiting), but it takes a little more work, and we’ve got to be willing to put in the work that it takes.”
Sanders, he said, will put in the work to get it right.
“I just told (the team), we won’t be in this situation again. I promise you that,” he said. “I can promise you that, because I’m not happy with nothing right now.
“If anybody’s built to reconcile and to get this back on course, it’s me, and I will do it if it’s the last thing I do on Earth.”
