2024 season's sorest spot driving Deion Sanders, Colorado football ahead of K-State game
Deion Sanders' Colorado football program is still fueled by this season's greatest failure: an embarrassing 28-10 beatdown at the hands of the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska back on September 7.
On SI's Jason Jones relayed that the Week 2 loss, one the Buffs were never competitive in and gave up five sacks of Shedeur Sanders during, is still on the team's mind.
"That loss, now in the rearview mirror, seems to be a driving force for both Sanders and his players as they prepare for Kansas State," Jones prefaced before saying, "For Sanders, the Nebraska game represents an opportunity missed, a moment that, had things gone differently, might have further bolstered Colorado’s already strong start."
Coach Prime still sounds personally affected by the loss.
“Some of us are still upset about the Nebraska game,” Sanders said. "We wish we had that right now."
Deion Sanders feeling the sting of losing to Nebraska is a good thing
Sanders hasn't always respected tradition in Boulder, but he did respect Buffs lore by stressing the "never wear red" campaign to avoid honoring Big Red by wearing that color. Taking that loss so personally shows Coach Prime isn't as ignorant about college football as he's sometimes painted to be.
And if he's trying to understand how CU works, then maybe Colorado isn't the short-term spot many think it'll be for Sanders.
For all the talk everyone did about this team failing, few are giving the team the credit it deserves. Having a loss eat you alive is what good teams do. Luckily, it happened out-of-conference.
The Buffs are ahead of schedule, but had they beat Nebraska, being unbeaten in Big 12 play wouldn't have been so surprising. If CU can continue to upset teams like Kansas State, Texas Tech, and Utah, there's little in the way of Colorado legitimately becoming a dark horse contender to win it all.
It's getting real in Boulder. And it's because the team's mentality is exactly where it needs to be.