There’s been no shortage of coverage on Deion Sanders after their 2 OT thriller over Colorado State, but here’s why it means more for the program then it does for the personality
BOULDER, Colo. — Fans on the east coast grew more tired as the 9 PM starting time for a years-long feud between Colorado and Colorado State finally came to fruition after a four year hiatus. Both measly teams in recent memory, one’s fate has been flipped upside down on its head.
As the clock struck triple zeroes on a low 60-degree night in Boulder, the red-hot Buffaloes stood drew at 28 a piece. About 30 minutes later, a battered Colorado team came off the field having scored 15 points in overtime and a win skyrocketing them to 3-0.
While it’s easy to pin the win on outspoken head coach Deion Sanders, who needs no introduction if you don’t live under a college football rock, it goes deeper than that. While Sanders may have been the spark to ignite a slumberous and revamped Colorado team, it’s a true paradigm shift in terms of culture.
Talk the talk and walk the walk.
On Saturday, Coach Sanders demonstrated his will to talk the talk– yet keep cool and take the high road by just going about his business by winning. In our eyes, that speaks more about the team than it does Deion. While the media attention dives in on Sanders, his philosophies, his euphemisms, his unorthodox approach to coaching and running a team in a modern day NCAA– the team around him has completely bought in, believing they’re more than just a media spectacle. They believe they are the 2023 rendition of the Greatest Show on Turf.
“We showed that we were resilient. We showed that we would fight,” Sanders said. “We showed that we had no surrender or give up in us, and that’s a lot for a team that’s fairly new.”
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There were numerous times throughout the Rocky Mountain night where it looked like Colorado was on the verge of collapse. They were down early in the game, they were pinned at their own two in crunch time, and maybe most notably their star two-way WR/CB Travis Hunter after an apparent late hit out of bounds by a Rams safety.
Even through all that, it was the players– not Deion who stepped up.
As the time in regulation trickled away faster than a New York minute, quarterback Shadeur Sanders drove the Buffs 98 yards to throw a 45-yard touchdown to Jimmy Horn Jr.
“We do it in practice all the time, so it’s not really a surprise to us,” Sanders said of the final drive. “We like these high-pressure moments, and I guess that’s what we live in.”
Masterful play calling or not, this game is a tribute to the role these players played in turning around a ship that had gone three sails to the wind. A one-year rebuild for a team that only won one game in the previous year is somewhat unheard of, matching the likes of Massachusetts or some other low level FCS team that flies under the radar. The difference lies in the fact that Colorado underwent a roster overhaul, bringing in a plethora of players from the transfer portal in the most free agency-esque transformation of a Division I football program we’ve seen to date.
The influx of new personnel was apparent from the moment the loud former NFL personality stepped foot in the state, as the head coach encouraged any stragglers from the previous regime it might be worth their time to hit the portal.
And somehow, even through all the praise, the cheers and jeers the Buffs got, and even the massive uptick in pure interest the school has received– the question has always remained: Will this experiment even work?
Even with just three games off the board, the enigma has a clear-cut answer. Yes.
Knocking off the national champion runner ups in their first game as an unranked team with a Rocky Mountain sized target on their back was a good start. Then beating a Big Ten team with a new head coach was a step in the right direction. Now, with a hotly contested rivalry win in the rear view– it’s apparent that the Colorado Buffaloes might be right where they want to be.
Remember, this was a team that hadn’t been relevant in the Pac-12 in years, with a 4-8 record in 2021 and a 1-11 record in 2022. The same team that gave up 63 points to Utah in their Rumble in the Rockies showdown. A team that would’ve been better off not getting off the bus during rivalry week has demonstrated an innate ability to flip the script.
This is more than just Deion’s doing, instead, it’s a complete culture shift.
“That’s all I heard when I was in Jackson,” Sanders said. “Culture, culture, culture, culture, culture. Now culture, culture. What the heck does that mean?”
“He understands the business,” a team source told ESPN. “If he doesn’t win, they’re going to get rid of him like they have the previous staffs, so you better be confident enough to make the moves you feel fit within the vision you have for that program. The one thing that no one can deny — you may agree or not agree with what he says — Deion Sanders has been a winner his entire life.”
That means bringing in all hands on deck, from every walk of life to create a harmonious football team. Coaching is a fluid motion, team-building is a fluid motion, it’s all liquid. For Colorado, Deion might’ve flipped the kickstand down, but he’s not what makes the car go.
“It’s a tremendous risk to replace all of those guys,” an ACC recruiting director said. “It’s an experiment that has never happened on this big of a scale.”
No risk no winning.
