Colorado secured its eighth victory of the season Saturday as the Buffs defeated Utah for the first time since 2016 as they took another step forward toward securing a spot in the Big 12 Championship game.
After the win, CU head coach Deion Sanders spoke with reporters for over 20 minutes recapping the victory and discussing the top performances in his team's win over the Utes.
Opening Statement: "Wonderful win. You're talking about a coach that I respect so darn much, these last two guys that we faced probably are some of my favorite guys and guys I adore. We got one coming up next week that I truly adore. He texts me and he calls me from time to time to keep the spirits going, and I [call] him, but it was a wonderful union before the game. I don't know what the future is for Coach [Kyle Whittingham], but tremendous man, a tremendous leader. Tremendous everything that he touches. I told him I wish I could have half of the career that he's had at Utah. So I don't know what's going to transpire, but that's a good man, great coach. They fought hard. Team has no quit in them whatsoever. They're physical, aggressive. That's who they are, and they lived up to that. Now for us, it wasn’t a great game, it was a good game. Putting up 49 points and not playing your best game, I think that speaks a lot about the program and where we are. We got to tighten some things up and get some things together. But you can see we're trending in the right direction. We started off rough. That wasn't indicative to who Shedeur is. I thought he was kind of okay all game long. Then I look at the stats, he's 30 for 41 for 343. Like come on, man. I guess I'm just a hard dad to please at times, as well as a hard coach. But defensively, we did some phenomenal things, how many sacks did we have? Four? And we had a ton of pressures right? We did some phenomenal things, topped off by Shilo getting in there at the end and doing what he did with the caused fumble. So God bless that. My highlight of the game, though, is Charlie Offerdahl getting into the end zone. We made that an initiative at the beginning of the week that we're going to get Charlie in the paint no matter what. And the young men on that line, they took that seriously. The staff took it seriously. We only had one attempt to try it, and he got it there on the first one, which was wonderful. So I'm proud of Charlie, of who he is and how he represents this program. He's a 4.0 student. He's above board on everything, never on anybody's list, and helps everyone that ever endeavors to come to him for advice, for support, for knowledge in the running back room as well as in the running back room. So thank God for Charlie. Thank God for the fans. I think we sold out once again. I didn't see a seat available. And I don’t know what that is every week that I smell that goes on in the second quarter, but I see a lot of people up there smiling (laughs), so I don’t know what it is. I saw that we paid a tribute to Miss Peggy. That was phenomenal. She’s breaking 100 right? Tuesday? God, I love her life. It seems as though the bowl is getting better and better and better because we're so focused and we're so dedicated on week to week. Not looking down the street, but week to week. I'm so darn proud of our coordinators, the staff, the young men, the women that're in this program, the chef cooking his butt off in the kitchen, the training staff, everybody has done a phenomenal job."
On scoring a season-high 49 points against best defense in the Big 12: "We wanted to really protect our quarterback. Every week we say 'Let's protect our quarterback. Let's do some things that we don't feel like they can stop.' We feel like we have the best receiving core in the country. We can protect the quarterback and then those guys, eventually, are going to get open, especially if we have the assistance of a running game. We showed flashes of having a running game. Isaiah did a phenomenal job today breaking one but we got to be more consistent. The sky would be the limit if we can really have consistency. The word escapes me what I want to say, but we need to really want and desire and just have passion to run the football at times. I think we're liking that, but prayerfully, we get it going. We could do some remarkable things if we have a more balanced offense."
On beating Utah for the first time since 2016: "We don't care about that. We weren’t here then so we could care less. I just walked out the locker room, and I'm pretty sure there's a party going on and somebody's rapping. That's how they feel. They feel really good. They feel really good about what they just accomplished, and they should. Every week we want them to be gentlemen and be men. We want you to go out and have a good time, but don't do nothing to threaten what you worked your butt off for in this moment."
On Robert Livingston's defense holding Utah to 31 rushing yards: "These guys are dedicated. Coach Livingston is doing a phenomenal job, but Coach Lewis and Sapp as well as Dancy, they ain't playing. Coach [Andre’] Hart at the linebackers position, and Coach Mathis challenged the DB's to be physical this week, because they're going to have to show up in the run game as well. We know they're on their third or fourth quarterback. We understand that. But we're happy with where we are, and we know where we could be. That’s the thing. We're not even where we could be right now. You see the mistakes, you see the little things that we could clean up, but when you look at the statistics. You say ‘Dang, that was phenomenal.’ Stopping the run to that point. So I keep reiterating this, I'm so darn proud of these young men and his organization."
On his message to Heisman voters about Travis Hunter: “I'm not going to give a message to Heisman voters who are undecided. If they can't see, they can't see. It is what it is. Travis is who he is. It's supposed to go to the best college football player. I think that's been a wrap since week two. So we aren't petitioning for nobody. We're not doing that. We've got a wonderful display of cameras here, and I think we're on national television every week. If they can't see it there is a problem. Don't allow their hatred for me to interfere with our kids' success. They've got to stop that. Some of y’all gotta stop that. Give the kids what they deserve. I had my turn, I played 14 years. You had 14 years to hate me, let it go."
On LaJohntay Wester’s punt return today: "We've got to dedicate ourselves to the return. That’s the thing. We've put in a little more work on the return teams and putting the right personnel out there. He could hit, Jimmy could hit it but Jimmy's out right now. He's [Wester] so versatile and so elusive. You see that after the catch when he's playing receiver, but that just shows his versatility. It should take him, make him more impressive to the scouts that are looking for him to get to the next level, which is the NFL."
On the offense making big plays: "Yes, but we've got to be more consistent on the plays. We shouldn't give up that much yardage up the seam. They're running the same darn route every time. The tight end going up the seam. How many times are we going to allow that to happen? We've got to get someone on it. We've got to hold him up. We've got to reroute him. We've got to do some things, because Rob is doing a wonderful job. We have to execute as players. We do."
On Drelon Miller: "Oh my God. He's like Deebo Samuel. He gives you a variety pack every time you put him out there. He could play the slot, he could play out wide, he could get in the backfield, he could go Wildcat. The kid is talented, and he's a freshman. I thought we didn't recruit those but this kid is a great young man. He was raised properly, has the right influences in his life, and the older players have taken him up under their wings. They make sure that he gets it right. He knows his assignments, his alignments, and the kid practices his butt off every day. So I'm so proud of him. He went for 100 yards today? That’s awesome man. I’m proud of him."
On intentionally recruiting different kinds of receivers: "Everybody makes a big deal over what you recruit and how you recruit. You got to find what you like and try to replicate that. You know what Jimmy [Horn Jr.] brings to the table. You know what LaJohntay [Wester] brings to the table. You've got to have three or four guys to bring to the table what Travis [Hunter] brings. You know what all our receivers bring and you go out and try to find that guy, because that's what you want into your room. Not only the game, but the character of our receivers. Will [Sheppard] had a wonderful day as well. Made some great contested catches, and that's the thing we've been asking him. Like every time Shedeur [Sanders] sees him one on one over there, he's going to put it up, and he expects him to come down with it, and oftentimes he does. I'm proud of him as well."
On allowing themselves to appreciate where they are: "No, not whatsoever, because we expected to be here. A lot of y'all didn't expect us to be here, but we expected it to be where we are. Matter of fact, we expected to be a little better. We dropped a couple that we're not proud of, but that's in the past. So now we focus on one game at a time. We really, truly do. But our expectations aren't your expectations. Our expectations are our expectations, and we expect a lot out of ourselves. We practice with the type of intensity and passion and love and effort that you can’t help but be successful in what we do. When we don't do things properly, it shows. We're beating ourselves at times, and nobody is beating us. We're beating ourselves. We just have got to focus on those little things and correct them so we can be flawless. That's the goal. To come out here and be dominant offensively, defensively as well as special teams. I think two phases we dominated today, special teams as well as the defensive side of the ball. We've just got to get the offense. It is hard to critique them. Like I said, I was on Shedeur's butt all day today, and I look up, and he's 30-for-41. I think any coach in the country would accept that willingly."
On differences in preparation for a morning game vs. a night game: "It's truly different. It really is. I'm thankful that you asked that question, because we're happy and elated when we get an opportunity to play in the morning. Why? Because we practice in the morning. It's a regular schedule for us. Our kids are over here at six something in the morning, getting their bodies warmed up and getting treatment. We have meetings at 7 a.m. and we're on the field practicing, sometimes at 8:30 or 9 a.m. We're probably off the field at 10:30/10:45, so this is really the time that we love. It seems a little early for some of y'all, but I took my walk on campus early, and I think the alcohol consumption was just as enormous as later in the day. I ran by some people, and I was like how in the world do you start that early? You got to pace yourself, dog. We love early games, because this is traditional for us, because that's what we do every day."
On if Colorado is two-way U: "Well, a lot of coaches lie, and they tell them, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to play on both sides of the ball, and we never see it. The reason is, first of all, I don't lie. Second of all, I did it, so I know it's doable. I know it can be allowed if a young man has that type of talent. Now, some of these guys, you were like that in high school, but you ain't like that in college. You really need to focus on one thing, but we're fortunate to have three guys. Tyler [Brown] hadn't played defense yet, but he practices defense every day. Hardge is one of the guys poised to start on the defense next year. He's so talented; he gives us a lot on the special teams, and Travis is Travis. We attract guys that could possibly play both ways, and if they can handle it, I'll give them the opportunity. My rule is you got to be great at something first. You can't be average on offense and average on defense, and I'm going to give you that luxury. Dominate something first, then I'll allow you to get on the other side of the ball."
On the special teams' performance today: "They did a great job. We focused on that. Tommie's [Robinson] doing a great job first of all. We focused on putting the right personnel on the field at the right time. Some schemes are different, and we do certain things and. I call the returns, or whether we want to return and then go for the block or be safe, so we could just get the change of possessions. Those guys were hungry today. They went out for it, and I think we almost blocked the punt. We should have. We were close, and we didn't have the block on, so I'm proud of them in that aspect as well. Special teams really are the attitude of your program. When you have bad special teams, oftentimes you have a bad program or a bad defense, because most of the defensive players play on special teams, not offense. Most of the defensive players do that. When you're looking at the special teams, you're really looking at the attitude of the defense. We just got to figure out how to put the right guys on at the right time so they could produce."
On the third down struggles, 5-for-24 in the last two games: "I didn’t know that, that’s horrible. God, that’s horrible. We have got to have positive first downs. When you have positive first downs, it makes the game tremendously easier. Pat says it all the time and we just want to get Pat mad. We get a tackle for loss first down, we get a sack for second down, we need to complete a 25-yard pass on third down and Shedeur pulls out something heroic. We just gotta be more consistent in the little things. We always preach positive first downs to make it easier for us, but we're not doing that. That comes along with not running the ball successfully, and we got backs that could do it. We just got to put a little more emphasis. It's not like Phil isn't, I mean, he's on their butts every day about being aggressive, being physical, having your pads up under their pads and moving your feet at the same time. We just got to do a better job."
On Nikhai Hill Green and LaVonta Bentley: "They're very physical. They're lights out versus the run. We need improvement on the pass, you know that. They know that, but they're lights out going ahead and attacking, and they're making plays. They're making plays tremendously, and they're kind of the heartbeats. Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig, he's the guy, he's our defensive attitude. Those guys, they make plays every week, and they're physical, and when we get a lead and we get ahead, they smell blood and they attack. I'm proud of those young men, because they put a lot into what they are right now. They study their butts off too."
On how Jordan Seaton responded to first half struggles: "He never gives up. He's probably upset at what he’s done with the holding penalties and all that. One of the holding penalties, he had been doing it all week, he grabbed the guy, kept his hands inside, and they called it, I guess cause he’s at the end and he’s visible for the official. You can't get on Jordan too much, because the kid is going to be great. The kid is going to be a top five pick when it's his turn to go. He loves the game, practices his butt off, and he's fundamentally sound for the most part, probably 95% of the time. He's a freshman and they're going to get him a couple times, but he's going to win a lot more times than he loses. I'm tremendously proud of Jordan."
On the value of having an explosive offense capable of making big plays: "We don't give a darn about the statistics afterwards, we care about the results. That's what we really care about. We look at this stuff and we analyze it and we want to improve statistically, but we look at the results of everything. We scored! We don’t give a darn if we didn’t score on third down, we scored on first down! We score, so that doesn't factor into what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to get down the field and put the ball in the end zone. We did that successfully quite a bit today, and we can't take that away from these young men, because you guys understand the progress. You understand that we haven't even put it all together yet, and haven't even played our best game. That should be scary in itself. When I said we’re coming, we are still coming. We never stop coming. We are coming and we ain't nearly there yet."
On finishing strong: "I'm proud of it. We emphasize finishing strong in practice. When I do signings, I take my first item that I signed and I compare it to my signature on the last. I feel bad if I'm not giving the consumer my best from the front to the back. I have to start well and finish well. I gave them that analogy to let our young men understand that if you're going to start that way, you have to finish that way. When I tell them stories about my life or someone else’s life or we Zoom somebody in in the morning and they can hear these guys that they deem successful, they understand it. But we have to start finishing a lot better. The emphasis was on that this week and I think we did a wonderful job."
On what it means to see one of your players exceed expectations: "I don't think any player could outdo our expectations. We have tremendous expectations. I had a conversation when we ran out and the guys got on their knees and prayed. Quincy Wiggins was in my heart, and I went and hugged him and told him how much I love him, and how much I'm proud of him, that he hadn’t given up. He still practices hard, even though he is on the scout team. He goes hard every day to give us the proper look. I was darn near in tears because I was just giving him love, and he looked at me and said Coach, I would never quit on you. He made a couple plays in the game tonight at the conclusion of the matter. That stuff means something to me because I love these young men like they’re mine. To see and hear him say ‘I would never give up on you coach, I would neer quit on you. I’m gonna work my butt off,’ I love that because that embodies who, what, why and how this program is."
