After starting the season as the toast of college football, Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes have crashed to a dismal 4-7 record, knocking the team out of qualifying for a bowl game. And Sanders is feeling the pain.
During one question about the tough 56-14 loss Saturday to Washington State, Sanders paused and admitted, “I’m sorry, my head is throbbing right now, according to the New York Post.
“This is the toughest stretch of probably my life,” Sanders added as his team lost its fifth game in a row.
His son, Shedeur, also had a bad game, as he walked off in the middle of the first half with multiple injuries. It has not been reported if he will be well enough to play in next week’s final game of his father’s first year at Colorado.
Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes walks on the field as players warm up before a game against the Colorado State Rams at Folsom Field on September 16, 2023, in Boulder, Colorado. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
Sanders told the media that Shedeur had “numbness in his hand,” and that is why he was sidelined.
“He got hit in the forearm, and he couldn’t really grip the ball. He couldn’t really feel the ball. Then the second time he got injured was, I think, we had an errant snap, and I think they rolled up his ankle, and that was it,” Sanders added.
“Couldn’t grip the ball and his ankle, so that took him out of the game, and the rest is history,” he said.
He was quite unhappy with how his team played the first half.
“I’m very saddened of how we played,” Sanders told the press after the game. “We practiced hard this past week. We prepared like no other, and to go display a performance like that it’s not indicative of who we are, what we are, how we are. And I’ve been boasting since the beginning of the season; I have not seen us quit.”
Still, he felt better about the second half.
“What do you say? I said what I said at halftime, and I challenged them to go out there and stand up for themselves, for their family, for the name on the front and the name on the back (of their jerseys). I challenged them to stand up for that, and they responded. They didn’t lay down. They went out there and fought, so I’m proud of them. I really am,” he insisted.
Still, Sanders insisted that the loss to Washington State was not illustrative of his team.
Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes looks on from the sideline in the third quarter against the Colorado State Rams at Folsom Field on September 16, 2023, in Boulder, Colorado. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
“[The loss is] not indicative of who we are, what are, how we are,” Sanders exclaimed. “I’ve been boasting since the beginning of the season: I have not seen us quit.”
Sanders came on strong as the season started and was hailed as the next great coach by many admirers and was hailed as the savior for “black coaches” in the NCAA.
Many left-wing commentators, such as the far-left race baiter Jemele Hill, insisted that any criticism of Sanders was “coded racism.”
But even inside the team, recriminations have ramped up as the Buffaloes suffer loss after loss.
Sanders himself also blasted the players and threatened to can his defensive lineup.
The tumultuous year has seen Sanders, and the Buffaloes go from being the most celebrated team in college football to not even winning enough games to make the bowl games.
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