To even get to Saturday's game, Deion Sanders had to overcome plenty of adversity. Sanders was literally standing on his last leg a week ago against BYU, coaching with one shoe, frequently sitting down, and looking uncomfortable. He revealed after the game that he thought he was dealing with more blood clots. Again.
Those fears were confirmed in a visit to the doctor on Monday. On Tuesday, Coach Prime underwent yet another surgery to combat the clots. He was back at practice the very next day.
There's been plenty outside of Boulder who have questioned whether Sanders was long for the Colorado job, particularly with Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders moving on. Rumors persisted all summer that he was working on an exit strategy. But those were always just that: rumors. When the chips were down, Sanders has always shown up for his team.
And on Saturday, his team showed up for him.
After back-to-back weeks of blowing early 14-0 leads, Colorado finally did what they've struggled to do all season: finish. Kaidon Salter keyed the offense with a big day, and the defense made key stops to help the Buffaloes secure a 24-17 win over No. 22 Iowa State.
The team was motivated by Sanders' resilience.
"Them seeing me in practice, knowing what this journey has been for me, and not skipping out on them, they respected the hell out of that and understood, I'm here," Sanders said. "I love those guys who call me coach."
Players call Deion Sanders a 'warrior' for how he responded to this week
Coach Prime has had his team's back all year. He has consistently said, as frustrating as this season has been, that Colorado was close. They weren't getting consistently blown out. They were mostly losing close games. They just needed to execute better down the stretch to eke out wins. They did that on Saturday to top Iowa State.
The team clearly responded to what they saw this week from their coach.
"Coach Prime (is) a warrior," Colorado OL Zy Crisler said.
One win certainly isn't the cure-all for what has ailed the Buffaloes this season. Colorado is still a disappointing 3-4 and 1-3 in the Big 12, but as Salter said postgame, 3-4 is a lot better than 2-5.
3-4 gives Colorado a chance to reset after the bye week. It means a 3-2 record down the stretch would be good enough to get the Buffs to bowl eligibility, which would be a positive outcome in a season - and offseason - full of adversity.