Deion & Shedeur Sanders – Source: Justin Tafoya / Getty
After an amazing 29-0 first half from Deion Sanders and Colorado, they found themselves losing to Stanford in double overtime.
Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffs are midway through his first season as head coach and last night’s game was supposed to be another big W. Colorado hosted the 1-4 Stanford Cardinals who were by all means having a disastrous season. The Buff came out the gate swinging and immediately putting up 29 unanswered points. However, the second half was a complete 180 according to USA Today.
Stanford didn’t give up hope and played their hearts out and forced the game into overtime. Additionally, after forcing the overtime Stanford kept the momentum going and won the game 46-43 in double overtime.
After the game Stanford’s coach Troy Taylor gave insight into what his halftime locker room speech looked like and it wasn’t much.
“You know what, it was a really simple message (at halftime). I was like, ‘it wasn’t a very good first half, I want to see how you compete.’ That was really it,” Stanford coach Troy Taylor said on ESPN after the game.
“To be down 29-nothing, on the road against a really good team, just to continue to compete and believe, the number of times when they could have succumbed, I’m just really proud of them,” Taylor said.
Colorado now sits on a 4-3 record while Stanford picks up their second win of the season. Deion Sanders hit the post-game press conference and had more than a mouthful to say about the devastating and unexpected loss.
“The opposition came back and played a heck of a game in the second quarter. They went on to get the victory. I’m truly upset, I’m truly disturbed. I’m gonna try my best to stay composed and do the best of my ability to handle this press conference because you deserve my best. We started out the game wonderfully and finally put it together in the first half like I desired, like we desired, like our players desired, and the fans. Wonderful first half. I believe the score was 29-0, am I correct? You surrender three touchdowns un answered or close to it, which I can’t fathom right now. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Then this thing just kept going. At halftime I talked to them about the old cliche people say how it’s 0-0 but that’s not true, it’s 29-0. I felt complacency going into the second half because we stalled offensively. We come back out and here comes the complacency. I can’t stand how in the world that happens to us but it did. We didn’t turn it back on until late in the fourth quarter, when we were able to go down and get a score. Then they tied it up and we got to go to overtime, and you don’t want to go in overtime because they have nothing to lose. I was surprised they went for the field goal the first time. I thought they were just gonna go for two and try their best to get it over with. But they were resilient. Big win by them, horrible loss by us.”
Many tried to point the finger at Travis Hunter who had a lackluster performance in his first game back since his liver injury. However, Sanders wasn’t going to allow it and told everyone to point the fingers at him.
“His conditioning is great. There were some plays he made and some plays he didn’t. Just so happens, the plays that he didn’t make at the end are magnified. But the plays he made kept us in the game.”
“Well, if you’re going to point the finger, point it at me. If I’m allowing it, it should be on me not him. We go over this stuff and there are times where you know what group is in but you have a lapse of understanding in those crucial moments. Right now, we’re not built for the moment. We’re not built for the moment. Some of our players aren’t built for the moment where they have to make a play. We’re not built for the moment right now.”
No matter how the rest of the season goes for Deion and Colorado it’s still a vast improvement over last year’s one-win season. Furthermore, the season isn’t over and Colorado can still potentially make a bowl game if the stars align.
