Colorado endured a difficult late-night loss against No. 18 Kansas State on Saturday, and head coach Deion Sanders discussed falling to the Wildcats, 31-28.
Here's everything Sanders said afterwards during his postgame press conference.
Opening Statement: “Well coached team, very disciplined team. Ran the heck out of the football. That was the goal, to try to stop the run. We didn’t do that whatsoever. They had 224 yards rushing, which they ultimately dominated the time of possession, which is not good, because now we can’t get on the field and do what we’re capable of doing. Coach Klieman was wonderful. I have a lot of respect, a lot of admiration coming from FCS, as I did, and he is unbelievable. And his team was truly prepared and ready to play this game. We had opportunity tremendously at the end of the game, and we took a shot. We didn't come up with it; game over, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation whatsoever. The drive before that, defensively, blowing coverages, we blew some things there, because the running back should never be wide open, running up the sideline in a situation like that, then they take a shot and hit us deep, which is not indicative of who we are. Certainly losing Travis (Hunter) and Jimmy (Horn Jr.) and others was tremendous, because they’re a vital part of our team, vital part of our identity, and a vital part of who we are. So that took a blow; that took a lot out of us. But, other guys had the opportunity to step up, and they did. So I’m proud of them.”
On the wide receiver injuries and if there’s an update: “No, not one. I saw Omarion (Miller) in a boot, kind of a cast. I thank God we have everything we need on the second floor here in this wonderful building. But I haven’t gotten an update on those particular young men. Hopefully they can get back at it, but we’re not going to rush them. Their safety and their health is much more important than this game.”
On emotions after Colton Hood’s late interception: “Tremendous. It was a natural high. That was phenomenal. Big play. I mean, the defense came up with the play when they needed to come up with the play, and that’s what transpired. And, you think, and well, you know, we’re going to score. You know, with the ball in Shedeur’s hands down there, we’re going to score. And we went on and did what we had to do. We didn’t expect them to have a couple of explosion plays to set them up for a touchdown. We didn’t even fathom that. I think Coach Rob (Livingston) called a heck of a game as well as Pat (Shurmur), we just came up on the short end of it.”
On if there were talks about Travis Hunter reentering the game: “No, not whatsoever. He was just there to support his team, and he did a good job at it.”
On the tackling being a problem: “(DJ Giddens) is phenomenal. He’s one of the best in the country. I mean, his maneuverability is unbelievable. We didn’t tackle well today, whatsoever. We didn’t get to the ball as a unit today, whatsoever. We had some busts and a few things. I’m telling you, I hear the calls, and Coach (Livingston) called a pretty darn good game. He called a really good game, and we just got to execute the calls.”
On what he’s most disappointed in: “The big plays and surrendering 224 yards rushing. Come on, because that’s clock as well. That keeps our offense off the field. And they need opportunities. We need opportunities.
On if he takes solace in the resilience of the team: “I’m proud of them, man, I’m always proud of them. This is a totally different team. This team has heart. They have integrity, they’re tough, and they love to play this game. We just came up short. We got to just learn how to win these particular games. We’ve done so this year as well. But that was one that we should have got the play here and there.”
On the running game not working: “We didn’t execute. I mean, the play calls are there, but we didn’t execute. We missed a block here, we missed this there, we missed this there; we just didn't execute. Play calling definitely sufficed. We didn’t execute, and I believe we surrendered six sacks to their four, which, you know, in comparison, it wasn’t bad, and Sheduer gotta get the ball out of there at times as well. But we’re better than that. We’re better collectively than what we showed tonight.”
On Shilo’s performance: “I thought he played horrible. I thought he was rusty. I thought he didn’t have his footing. I thought he wasn’t breaking down. He’s coming up trying to make the play, but open field one on one tackle with that kind of back, that ain’t an easy task, but he's going to do better. I know what he has in him.”
On the team’s resilience after multiple injuries: “Shows tremendous resilience. It shows you depth. It shows you the recruiting has been successful in the depth of that position. It shows that Pat did a wonderful job. He didn’t change, you know, the distribution of the ball and the play calling. We still had a couple big time guys out there that could make plays too. Terrell Timmons, he got hurt too. So let’s not forget, because he went down. That’s why we had some of the guys in later in the game. But I’m praying for him as well. Hopefully he’s okay. I don’t know what happened with him as well.”
On confidence in the wide receiver room: “We’re deep. I mean, that room is deep. Those guys step up tremendously. And we have freshmen that’re able to step up. And Drelon did a wonderful job. Did a wonderful job of coming in there and making plays. So I’m happy with who they are, what they are, and how they work. They do a tremendous job of working in practice, they have leadership by LaJohntay, he’s probably their vocal leader in there, but we’re deep in that position.”
On how close Cordale Russell is to being ready to play: “I think he’s healthy, yeah, but he’s just gotta do his thing.”
On BJ Green’s performance tonight: “I haven’t watched the film, so I don’t really know how they performed, but he had a couple sacks, which came at crucial times. I don’t know how many tackles he had, but I didn’t get that far. I gotta watch film to see who really did what and how they did so but from the natural eye, he had a couple sacks, which was impressive. I think he’s capable of that every game. And that’s what we’re looking for, and that’s what we desire.”
On the breakdowns in pass protection: “I can’t tell you everything that happens, but you would never guess that some things happen and it happened. So that’s why you gotta hear from a quarterback, because I could be upset and get on him. Then he’ll tell me what he saw. He tells me what really transpired. So I have to back up a little bit. I learned not to be emotional when it comes to seeing what a quarterback sees. But I’m just happy and elated that we just always feel like if the ball is in his hands at the end, we are going to have an opportunity. And I don't know what transpired at the end and it looked like pass interference to me. But it was, it was tough. I didn’t want it to end that way. You know? I just saw us fighting down the field, and then I know once we cross the 50, its Mata time, so I felt like we were going to be okay.”
On his post-game message to the locker room: “Self reflect. Tell them to self reflect. Everybody wants opportunities to be that guy, and oftentimes you get opportunities to be that guy, and you’re upset that you didn’t rise to the occasion. So just self reflect. Sometimes when you lose in life. You get your butt kicked, you just gotta take it. But sometimes you lose, you say, dang, we should’ve won that. We should’ve had that. And that was one of those types of games. That's not taking anything away from our opponents, because they played their butts off, and they're in that locker room right now celebrating having a good time, and they deserve it. But for us, we just felt like we let that one slip away, and we got to do a better job of taking advantage of the opportunities that we had to win that game, because we had several.”
On optimism around making a bowl game: “That’s not in our thought process, we’re one game at a time. Really, one game at a time. We definitely want to, you know, the goal is to get Miss Peggy to a bowl. You know that. But we’re one game at a time. That’s the target. You know, you hate dropping those games but you can see that we’re trending in the right direction. You can see that we have some capable players. You can see that we have some people that can flat out play this game. We just gotta all show up together. Today, the run defense, we didn’t show up collectively.”
On expectations for Omarion and Drelon Miller the rest of the season: “Omarion can just play. I mean, you could just flip a coin, and he could start if you desire him to. It’s just the way the chips fall for him, but he is just like a starter. Drelon, I mean, being a true freshman and coming in and contributing as much as he’s doing, it’s phenomenal. Hats off to him. You think you’re going to get those freshman mistakes, but he’s not making them. He’s there and he’s fighting. He’s working his butt off in critical moments. I mean, when Shedeur can trust him in critical moments, that speaks a lot to who he is and how he’s risen to the occasion. But you gotta understand, when you lose Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn in ten minutes, that tremendously hurts. But look, nine receivers had opportunity, nine people caught passes today, which is phenomenal. That keeps your room happy as well.”
