Deion Sanders' coaching blamed for shocking Colorado football loss to Stanford

Deion Sanders' coaching was blamed for the Colorado football program's unfathomable 46-43 loss to Stanford on October 13 by ESPN's Pete Thamel on the College Gameday Podcast.

In fact, he was blamed for two losses.

“Deion Sanders, game coaching wise, cost them two games last year,” Thamel said (h/t Heartland College Sports). “They had a 29-point lead in the second half against Stanford. They did not run the ball, they did not bleed the clock. It was poor game management. Those are the type of things that as Deion Sanders evolves as a coach, he needs to get better at.”

Stanford loss changed trajectory of 2023 Colorado football season

The Stanford loss was essentially the end of Colorado's bowl game hopes, but the momentum loss of that game ended up changing the trajectory of the Buffs' season. There wasn't another CU win for the rest of the season following the Buffs' razor-thin win over ASU the week before, and the Stanford loss led into Colorado's bye week. There were likely some uncomfortable conversations that week before a rough stretch of UCLA, Oregon State, Arizona, Wazzu, and Utah.

Obviously, the 29-point blown lead against the Cardinal was the most eye-opening fact about Colorado's Week 7 loss. But that game revealed how little Coach Prime believed in his running back room and showed how over-reliant he can be on his son, Shedeur Sanders, under center.

The next win CU guts out won't undo the damage the Stanford loss caused, but it'll be cathartic in some ways. Talk about trials and tribulations...