A disappointing season for the Colorado Buffaloes hit an unfortunate checkpoint on Saturday.
After a 29-22 defeat to West Virginia—the Buffaloes‘s third straight loss—Colorado is no longer mathematically eligible for a bowl game. The loss also guarantees that Colorado will finish with a losing record for the second time in three seasons, which also spans Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders‘s tenure as the program's coach.
Given the hype and fanfare that has followed Sanders to Boulder, it was reasonable for Buffaloes fans to have high expectations of the Sanders-led program. So naturally, Sanders was asked what his message to the fans would be amidst another losing campaign.
"This is not who we are. We're better than this, and they deserve better than this," Sanders told reporters. "I want better than this. I feel like I coach better than this. I feel like we got players that are so much better than what the production is that we're putting out.
"So then, you got to identify the coaches, that's us, and that starts with me, because I feel like we got the nucleus inside the locker room that we should be getting it done. I don't think we played a team that's this athletically and physically better than us. I really don't, and I'll stand on that."
Mistakes cost Buffaloes vs. West Virginia but hope for the future emerges
Colorado committed a number of critical penalties, allowed seven sacks and a blocked punt, and struggled to string together sustained drives for much of the contest, converting on just five of 17 third downs. Unfortunately for Buffaloes fans, these miscues against the Mountaineers were almost a microcosm of the program's disappointing season.
But the Buffaloes also showed some things that should give fans hope.
Colorado, which had entered the game coming off of 52-7 and 52-17 defeats in their last two games, were in the contest against West Virginia until the bitter end. To Sanders, it was evident that his players had shown signs of fight.
"These guys hadn't quit. Contrary to what people may write, what they may say, these guys are still fighting," Sanders said. "They still want it. They're still coming over the sidelines, saying things to me, you could tell they're upset. They're holding themselves and each other accountable.
"The coaches are holding them accountable, and I'm holding the coaches accountable, and I got a few people holding me accountable."
And perhaps most important of all for the Buffaloes was that freshman quarterback Julian Lewis—the third different player to start under center for Colorado this season—showed flashes of the potential that made him a five-star recruit. In his first college start, Lewis threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns, leaving Sanders to say that the young signal-caller did a "phenomenal job."
Colorado will look to keep building for the future when it finishes up the season against Arizona State and Kansas State.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Deion Sanders Has Message for Colorado Fans Amid Second Losing Season in Three Years.
