- Deion Sanders has been staying at the team facility since Colorado’s 53-7 loss to Utah.
- The Buffaloes are 3-5 and need three wins in their final four games to become bowl-eligible.
- Sanders did not announce any changes to his coaching staff or quarterback lineup following the loss.
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders says he never went back to his house in Colorado after suffering the worst loss of his college coaching career Saturday at Utah.
The Buffaloes got beat 53-7 in Week 9, leading to questions about why and who was responsible for it as his team gets ready to play Saturday night at home against Arizona.
“I feel the worst,” Sanders said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “I haven’t been home yet. I’ve been here every night since. I haven’t been home yet. So that’s how much I care. That’s how much I love it. That’s how much I embody this university, the school, what they’ve done for us.”
So what will he do about what happened?
Sanders didn’t announce any changes to his coaching staff or quarterback lineup. He instead ascribed his team’s performance against Utah to being “one of those days that it just didn’t work.”
“Now guess what?” Sanders said. “Let’s flush the darn toilet, and let’s move on. And that’s what we’ve done. We’ve flushed the toilet and moved on.”
Deion Sanders says ‘don’t say we weren’t prepared’
The Buffaloes are 3-5 and need three wins in their final four regular-season games to become eligible for a postseason bowl game. Arizona is a 4½-point favorite over Colorado, according to BetMGM. And it doesn’t look to be an easy bounce-back game for the Buffs.
The Wildcats are 4-3 this season after suffering two close losses in the last two weeks against No. 10 Brigham Young (8-0) and No. 22 Houston (7-1).
After the Utah game, Sanders said he wanted to know why his team failed in so many areas. Asked on Tuesday about what he learned about those ‘whys,’ Sanders said, “I don’t want to share those.”
Colorado was coming off a bye week and previously played its best game of the season Oct. 11 – a 24-17 win against Iowa State. He insisted his team was prepared to play Utah.
“We’re better than this,” Sanders said. “We really are. There’s no way we could play like that (against Iowa State), the last time you saw us play at home, and then go play like that (at Utah). That don’t add up. So don’t say we weren’t prepared. We were prepared. We just got our butts kicked.
Deion Sanders addresses all the fired coaches
Sanders was asked about all the coaches who have been fired in college football recently, often at the cost of high-priced buyouts. Sanders is 16-17 in three seasons at Colorado and just agreed to a new five-year contract in March that will pay him more than $10 million annually.
“Everyone wants the quick fix, the quick things,” Sanders said. You got mail-order brides, too, right? You get married, you know, right away. You can get a BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift). You could come in here flat, flat as I don’t know what and leave thick as a snicker. … It is a different country that we live in, man. Ain’t nobody got no patience no more. I understand that. And I don’t, either.”
His players seem to know that.
“Even though the season hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to, as long as we stay together, you know, we continue to be a brotherhood, I believe no one can stop us,” Colorado defensive back Preston Hodge said Tuesday.
Sanders also noted again Tuesday said his team is “a different team at night.”
Colorado is 6-12 in games starting at 7:30 ET or later, including 1-7 on the road in Sanders’ three seasons as head coach.
Kickoff on Saturday is set for 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com