Colorado football coach Deion Sanders issued another warning of sorts after his team crushed Utah on Saturday at home, 49-24.
His team is two wins from landing in the Big 12 Conference championship game but still hasn’t really performed the way he’d like.
Remember what he told the world after being hired in Boulder two years ago?
“We comin.”
The Buffaloes (8-2) are still on their way.
“We haven’t even put it all together yet,” Sanders said at his postgame news conference in Boulder. “Like we haven’t even played our best game. That should be in itself scary. Like man, when I said, `We comin,’ we still coming. We never stopped coming. We are coming, and we ain’t nearly there yet.”
‘The Buffs are back’
They’ll nearly get there if they win their final two regular-season games next week at Kansas and at home against Oklahoma State on Nov. 29. Winning both would put them in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 7. If they win that, too, they’d earn a berth in the new 12-team College Football Playoff and might even get a first-round bye as one of the four highest ranked conference champions.
But there are issues to resolve and a Heisman Trophy to win in the meantime. Sanders discussed that and more after bringing back Colorado from the dead in 2022, when the Buffaloes finished 1-11 the season before his arrival.
“It’s pretty special,” running back Charlie Offerdahl said afterward. “That 1-11 season was very rough. All I can say is the Buffs are back.”
Deion Sanders discusses Travis Hunter’s Heisman candidacy
Colorado cornerback-receiver Travis Hunter is the leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy and turned in another boffo performance to boost his cause with a rushing touchdown, an interception, three tackles and five catches for 55 yards while playing nearly every snap. On the other hand, he also allowed his first touchdown pass of the season – a 40-yard pass that was perfectly thrown just a step beyond his reach in the third quarter.
Afterward, Sanders was asked about what his message would be to Heisman voters who are undecided. He answered with concern that some voters might not vote for Hunter because they don’t like his flamboyant coach.
“It’s supposed to go to the best college football player,” Sanders said of the Heisman. “I think that’s been a wrap since what? Week 2? So we ain’t petitioning for nobody. We ain’t doing that. We got a wonderful display of cameras here, and I think we’re on national television every week. If they can’t see us, there’s a problem. Don’t allow their hatred for me to interfere with our kids’ success. They gotta stop that. Y’all gotta stop … Y’all gotta stop that, man. Give the kids what they deserve, man. I had my turn … You had 14 years to hate me. Now let it go.”
Hunter became the first NFL or major college football player to have 50 receiving yards, a rushing touchdown and an interception in the same game in the past 24 years since Champ Bailey did it in the NFL for Washington against Arizona on Dec. 24, 2000, according to CU.
Why wasn’t Deion Sanders totally pleased?
The Buffs had three turnovers – two fumbles and an interception thrown on the first play of the game. Two of those turnovers were committed by his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders – each of which led to field goals for the Utes (4-6).
Offensively, Colorado also converted just three of 11 third downs after converting just two of 13 last week in a win at Texas Tech.
“Those types of things can’t happen,” Shedeur Sanders said. “I’m gonna have a talk with the whole offense and apologize for my performance out there at the very beginning, because I can’t put the team in that type of situation. I’m thankful for the defense. I may have to take them out to dinner this week for saving me and saving the team.”
Shedeur completed 30 of 41 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns in front of another sold-out crowd at Folsom Field (54,646). His team led 21-9 at halftime and controlled throughout in large part because of Colorado’s defense, which intercepted three passes, recovered one fumble, rang up nine tackles for losses and sacked the quarterback four times. Colorado’s defense held Utah to 31 rushing yards, the fewest from the Utes since 2011, according to CU.
The Heisman play
Two plays stood out for different reasons. One was a 4-yard touchdown run from Offerdahl, a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship by Deion Sanders before the season. Sanders has praised Offerdahl’s work ethic in practice and made sure he got the chance to get his first career touchdown for the Buffs with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter.
The other play came later in the fourth quarter after the Buffs recovered a fumble at the Utah 19-yard line. On first and goal from the 5, Shedeur handed the ball to Offerdahl, who then flipped the ball to Hunter on a reverse.
“That play is pretty cool,” Offerdahl said. “We call it Heisman.”
Hunter scrambled and scored on the play for a 5-yard rushing touchdown up the middle. But that’s not what was supposed to happen. Shedeur said afterward that Hunter was supposed to throw the ball back to Shedeur, but Shedeur tripped, leading Hunter to improvise.
“I was trying to get open, and I see how hard it is to be a receiver,” Shedeur Sanders said.
Seven receivers caught passes Saturday from Shedeur, including freshman Drelon Miller, who had six catches for 108 yards and a touchdown.
“We feel like we have the best receiving corps in the country,” Deion Sanders said.
They’ll take their act to Kansas next Saturday for another nationally televised game on Fox. The Buffs are No. 17 in the current playoff rankings and are off to their best start since 2016, when they finished in the Alamo Bowl with a 10-4 record.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
(This story was updated to add new information.)