Colorado bounced back from a close loss against Kansas State with an impressive and dominant victory over Arizona on the road Saturday. After the game, Buffs head coach Deion Sanders spoke with the media about his team's performance in the 34-7 victory over the Wildcats.
Here is the full transcript of his postgame press conference in Tucson.
On how he felt going into the game: “Well, my whole thing this week was just preparation and stopping the run and protecting the quarterback. We knew we could eventually get the run going. We changed backs of course, just giving everybody a shot. Everybody’s got a shot. I think Charlie’s started, everybody’s started at least once this year and I think that’s fair to do. But the young men responded. I was on them, not just about football, but about life and especially the seniors getting prepared for life and taking advantage of opportunities that you have right in front of you. And this was a tremendous opportunity to start a run that we want to go upon. So I'm proud of the young men. I'm proud of the staff as well as the support staff. We got a tremendous support staff as well.”
On why Colorado has played well on the road: “We’re spending time together. We bond regardless of where we are. I'm not gonna say, I can't pinpoint it, but we’re focused, we’re focused and we really focus on the little things. The night before, the meetings that we have are phenomenal. The walkthroughs are phenomenal. Just the overall focus and the understanding. Sometimes we like to be booed and naysayed and all that, and we get that on the road. I think we're attracted to that somewhat.”
On Keaten Wade’s game: “Phenomenal. I just brought him up before the team. Never complained, never bickered, never moaned. Never said poor little old me, just worked his butt off rehab, got himself together. When he got the opportunity to practice, whether it was the regular team or the scout team, he went full speed. So guys like that, you gotta find a place for them so they could play the game of football. You gotta create a package for him so he could be on the field. And he got in the package that we had for him, and he did what he does and I'm proud of him because he could play inside and outside. He's very versatile and he's a great kid. I mean, he does his school work. We never worry about him being late or missing anything. The kid is always on time and we're proud of him.”
On the onside kick to start the game and the focus to recover and score a touchdown afterwards: “It's kind of disrespectful too, you know, starting off like this, like we’re gonna get the onside kick because you're thinking that we're not prepared. We prepare for a lot of situational football throughout the week, especially on Friday. So, hats off to the special teams and the guys up front. We put guys up there that are athletes so they could recover onside kicks or whatever may happen. And that was a surprise and we're happy that we got it. Go right down and score.”
On if that was a sign that CU was locked in: “You're happy that you recovered. It could have went the other way, but we responded tremendously.”
On Travis Hunter, who left the game with an injury: “A little sore, a little banged up. Sore and banged up. Travis wanted to play. I don't know if he was quite 100% ready, but half of Travis is a whole of somebody, you gotta understand. But it affects us on two sides of the ball. But he went out there and showed face and tried his best to do what he's capable of doing. But you know, the first fade we threw to him and he couldn't extend and go get it, and he kind of reacted late. That’s not Travis. I said, man, that's not you. What are you doing? Are you okay? And he didn't wanna come off the field, you know how he is, but, I'm proud of him. The kid is phenomenal. He's a competitor and he just wanted to play.”
On how much Hunter practiced this week: “Not much, if any. Travis is the kind of guy you don't worry about on Saturdays. We don't worry about that on Saturdays, no.”
On how pleased he was with the fast start: “Yeah, we really challenged the coordinators on both sides of the ball about the starts. And we showed statistics of our two losses and how we started and the productivity that we didn't have in the two losses that we had in the first half. If you do your homework on the numbers, they're astronomical, lopsided. We are a second half team. We always play, we’re in shape, we’re conditioned. We always come back and fight hard in the second half. But it was imperative that we get out to a tremendous start in the first half and that's what we focused on in practice. We even flipped the practice schedule and changed the way we practice this week. You know, usually we go out there and tempo this day. We start out with special teams. Thank God that's what we started every practice with, the special teams, and they were special today to even get that onside kick. So I think changing the schedule was tremendous for us as well.”
On holding Noah Fifita to a career-low in passing yards: “We have a tremendous defense. I like where we're headed. I like where we're going. The main thing is we're not who we used to be, but we sure ain't where we want to be. That kid is phenomenal. McMillan, the receiver, is phenomenal. Those kids are the first round draft choices in my eyes. And thank God we were able to nullify them. But it's hard when you don't have a running game to compliment that. It's hard on everyone. I think we know that firsthand. But those kids have a phenomenal future. They're phenomenal football players and I'm just thankful we got the best of them today. Let me go out and underscore this too. President Obama is everything to me. I mean, I love him, I admire him. I respect him tremendously, but I heard what he said. You know, president, I heard what you said, man! Like, come on, come on. That's why I really don't get into politics. I'm into people because politicians are, they play the political game. He was here and had to play the political game. So, they have two good players. We got more than two good players! But you’re here, so you had to support that. And what’d he say, they won the last three meetings or two meetings, something like that. He did his homework. Somebody gave him some great statistics. But president, come on man! You are my man. I love you. I appreciate you. But come on dog! God bless you. I still love you.”
On the offensive line’s performance: “Yeah, well that's something that we focused on as well. We just gotta stop the little mistakes. You know, we’re having at least three mistakes, up front and we gotta just eliminate those things. We’re showing, the most penalized group on this team comes from that group, because it's five of them in the group. But we gotta get a little more disciplined. We really focused on the penalties this week as well. And I think we're minimal, I think probably our best day penalty wise. I know we got a couple at the end, but that probably was our best day with the lack of penalties. We got a couple bonehead penalties, which provoked their first score. I think we had an unnecessary roughness which wasn't called for, and that helped them score their first touchdown.”
On rotating guys in and out at guard: “Trying to find that click, trying to find that fit. It's like when you put a key into the ignition and you turn it. If it don't work, it wasn't right. So you’re just trying to find that mesh, who works well with others and who can come in on short notice. In this day and age of portaling, you want to kind of keep guys happy as well. That can possibly be at play. You don't want dogs sitting over there on the sideline, and they don't get an opportunity to get in the game. I think we utilized seven, eight. I think we utilized eight offensive linemen today that played a tremendous amount of snaps and we're proud of that. Because now, offensive linemen that you're recruiting or you're grabbing out of the portal understand there's an opportunity to play. Like our freshman, when we go grab a freshman, we want them to play and they understand that you can play this game as a freshman here at Colorado.”
On getting Peggy to a bowl game: “We still ain't got Peggy straight. We gotta get Peggy straight now. We don't wanna just get Peggy to a bowl now. Peggy got great taste. Peggy's sophisticated. She's a lady, so we want to make sure we get up to a nice bowl, okay? Not just any bowl.”
On what “where we wanna be” means: “We want to win. We want to win at all costs, but I value winning differently. I don't want to just win on the field, I wanna win off the field. I wanna win in the classroom. I wanna win in the communities that you saw that last week, our kids did a phenomenal job going to support little ones. I mean, I want to win in all facets of life with these young men. And that's something I think we're on our way to do.”
On why it was important to go to Casey Middle School last week: “I think you’re important, everybody's important. I don't demean or denounce anyone's importance. I want, especially if there's a problem that we can particularly help solve and bring solving to, I want peace, man. I want love, I want joy. I want everybody to smile. I want everybody to have the opportunity to, to elevate in some form or fashion. So, getting that letter from the father and reading it and then having contact with this young man and seeing him crying his heart out was touching. It touched me and it provoked me to move. And that's what I feel like I am, I'm a mover and I like to move people and move people in the right direction. That's something that our kids, when I saw them over, you know how wonderful that was, man, you know how beautiful that was for our team to go support this, man? They don't know him, but they understood the message and they reacted and I love it. I love it. 100%. That's what it's all about.”
On how big it is that guys who don’t usually play got to play today: “Tremendous. First of all, a multitude of those guys are on the scout team and they're always giving us a look. So they're the guys that are preparing us to go do what we just did. So to get to see them out there and to see Ben Finneseth, you know, see Braden Keith, we call him two first names, two first names. And to see some of these guys, 36 Mafia, you know, I got nicknames for everybody. I think OP got the kickoff a couple times. I mean, and Johnny Apple Seed. We call 'em all, you know, our era, I make up names. That's my era. They don't even know who these people are. So I'm happy and elated. They get an opportunity to fulfill their dreams. Sometimes it's their dream man. They just want to run out there in their CU uniform. I'm upset that we haven't gotten Charlie in the paint though, so I went out there and told him, I said, come on man. Charlie hasn’t scored a touchdown. He got one, but he was called back earlier in his career. I want to see Charlie score. That's what I want, but I'd rather do it at home. I'll take the penalty too.”
On Shedeur’s poise after playing well against Arizona’s defense: “We have tremendous potential. We have a tremendous offense. Today we displayed a tremendous amount of balance. The only thing, he didn't protect the ball well, that's what we got into about on the sideline. But he's better than that, and I know what he could possibly do. You gotta understand when I'm looking at Shedeur and he's 23-for-33, that's not, it's not him. I'm looking at Shedeur like 29-for-33, you know, no picks. Like come on man. Nobody touches your ball. You, better than that. So I'm on him about focusing and the totality of the game, but overall offensively as well as defensively and special teams, I like the product we put on. Mata was outstanding today, Mate (Mark Vassett) was outstanding. Mark was outstanding today. Yeah, they almost blocked a punt, I think he put it inside the ten. So it was the overall effort that I'm truly proud of. Can't wait to get on this plane, get back to Boulder. Somebody gimme a weather update. It's not snowing, is it? It's snowing in the mountains? I like to see the snow in the mountains. That's part of the, that's part of what we talk about with Colorado. So are the mountains covered with snow? We'll get there. We don't see enough of it. If it's below 50, I don't go outside anyway. We have a wonderful indoor (facility). I'm a Florida boy, don't forget that. God bless you all. I wish you the best. Thank you so much for your support and your love, and your hate and times, but I appreciate it.”
