Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes eliminated from bowl contention amid lost season
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It will be another losing season for Deion Sanders as Colorado’s head football coach.
After a 29-22 loss to West Virginia on Saturday, Sanders’ Buffaloes were eliminated from bowl contention and will finish with a losing record for the second time in three seasons.
“This is not who we are. We are better than this, and they deserve better than this. I want better than this. I feel like I coach better than this. I feel like we have players that are much better than the production we are producing,” Sanders said after the game.
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Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders on Oct. 25 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
“So you have to identify the coaches, that’s us, and that starts with me, because I feel like we have the core within the locker room that we should make it happen. I don’t think we’ve played a team that’s as athletically and physically better than us. Not really, and I’ll stand by that.”
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Deion Sanders, center, with his sons Shedeur Sanders, left, and Deion Sanders Jr. (Kirby Lee/Image Images)
Many critics wondered how Sanders’ team would perform in 2025 after the departure of his quarterback son, Shedeur Sanders, and two-way star Travis Hunter, to the NFL.
Shedeur and Hunter had been staples of Deion’s college coaching career dating back to his first two seasons at Jackson State.
Before Saturday’s must-win game, Sanders named five-star freshman Julian Lewis as the team’s starting quarterback. Lewis threw two touchdown passes in his first college start.
The team had alternated between quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub in its first nine games.
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders walks on the sidelines Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va. (Ben Queen/Image Images)
Now, Lewis has officially lost his redshirt status with just two games left in a lost season.
Last year, Colorado went 9-4 and Sanders signed a five-year, $54 million extension that puts him under contract through 2029.
colorado athletic director Rick George expressed confidence in Sanders earlier this week.
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“I’m proud of Coach Prime. It’s been a tough year that he’s been through. He’s been a trooper, he’s worked hard, he’s motivated. He’s doing the things I want him to do as a coach. We just have to win more FB games,” George told reporters.
In July, Sanders announced Doctors had removed his bladder after the discovery of a tumor.
Sanders said there has been no evidence of cancer since the surgery.
Doctors said a section of Sanders’ intestine was reconstructed to function as a bladder. Sanders faced questions about whether he would be fit to coach after his health scare, but remains steadfast in his commitment to Colorado.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures such as Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.