Deion Sanders confident through Colorado thriller
Deion Sanders says “I never flinched” after Colorado rallied for a thrilling season opening victory.
- Colorado secured a narrow 14-13 victory over Georgia Tech after blocking a game-winning field goal attempt.
- Despite the win, Colorado’s offense and special teams struggled throughout the game against a depleted Georgia Tech team.
- The game drew a sellout crowd, which Sanders attributed in part to his program’s national attention.
ATLANTA – So here we are in Year 4 of the Prime Experiment, and it’s time we’re all honest with ourselves.
This thing is brutal.
It’s Fools Gold, a masterclass of deception fueled by Colorado coach Deion Sanders, one of the greatest football players of our time — who just so happens to be an even greater showman.
A carnival barker’s dream.
“I’m pretty sure ESPN was happy the way this turned out,” Sanders said of Colorado’s 14-13 rock fight win over Georgia Tech.
And true to form, how could they not be happy? The game mercifully ended when Georgia Tech, after doing everything it could to give the game away, finally did so in the final minute.
The Jackets blew a coverage in the secondary that led to a wide open receiver, and a touchdown pass. Then got the ball back and drove down the field in four plays ― only to have a 44-yard game-winning field goal blocked..
Prime walks off the field all smiles and arm-in-arm with his son, Shedeur, and away we go. The showman delivers.
Look, this is what you get with Sanders. If you don’t know by know, Thursday’s misery left no doubt. One year you’ve got the best player on the field and the world is your oyster, and the next you’re struggling to win a single Big 12 game.
You’re always one play away from disaster and heartbreak, or miraculous misfortune. Whose misfortune is anyone’s guess.
But for how much longer? The thrill of the carnival barker’s tip isn’t really selling anymore. The soliloquies of the past that drew crowds and had Colorado fans and ESPN falling over themselves to get a piece of Prime, aren’t gathering the masses anymore.
Though if you listen to Prime, the show sells every single fall Saturday, win or lose. Exhibit A: Georgia Tech had its first season-opening sellout crowd since 2006.
“We had something to do with that,” Sanders said.
Of course they did. Because it’s all part of the sale, all part of the wildly engaging and always lovable Prime. How can you not like the guy?
But even the showman has his limits. Even Prime can’t walk away unscathed from a three-win season, from an offseason where there were no excuses for Colorado’s second one-win Big 12 season in three years.
So Sanders gutted his staff and hired six new assistant coaches, including coordinators for both the offense and defense. He brought in 66 new players, and started drawing us in again.
Just like he did when he first arrived in 2023 with his Gucci, and his 77 new players. Or when he followed that season with 55 new players, and then 71 new players last season.
This version of the show rolled out against a Georgia Tech team that — more than any other in the Power Four conferences — was decimated by transfer portal losses. A starting quarterback, three wide receivers, their best offensive lineman, and on and on and on.
This was a setup game, a chance for the Buffs to roll into town, get a big win and build momentum. A judge in Denver even chipped in earlier in the day, excusing Sanders from testifying in his son Shilo’s $12 million bankruptcy trial on Friday.
It was all ball Thursday night, and it was all bad. That Go-Go offense of new offensive coordinator (and former Sacramento State head coach) Brennan Marion? Yeah, that was a No-No.
Quarterback Julian Lewis, the one-time five-star recruit whose shocking signing with Colorado was supposed to change the way the Buffs recruited high schools (it hasn’t), returned home and looked a whole lot like Shedeur Sanders in the NFL. If you know what I mean.
Lewis, a former Carrolton (Ga.) High star, missed reads, missed throws and got zero help from a group of receivers who were closing in on double-digit drops as this mess crawled into the fourth quarter.
Without the relentless running of a deep trio of running backs, the Colorado offense may not have crossed midfield all game without a Georgia Tech turnover (there was one of those, too). There were at least — at least — six snaps when Lewis wasn’t ready to receive, leading to fumbles, botched plays and missed conversions to extend drives.
The special teams were absolutely disastrous, giving up a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and having a potential game-tying field goal blocked midway through the fourth quarter. The redeemed themselves with a block of a field goal on the final play.
Then there’s the actual coaching decisions, the very reason Colorado is paying Sanders nearly $10 million annually. Two series after Colorado tried to convert a fourth-and-goal from 3, it punted from the Georgia Tech 39.
The only thing more embarrassing Thursday night was Rutgers losing at home to UMass, and the SEC losing on the road at LSU.
Which fits perfectly with this wild offseason. College football can’t get its act together, and Prime the carnival barker is still trying to get everyone inside the tent.
He was asked in the postgame love fest of a press conference if the win is satisfying because of the criticism he has faced this offseason.
“We know what we’re doing here. So talk your talk,” Sanders said. “You gotta sell some papers, get some clicks, you gotta do that. Just don’t get sensitive when I talk back.”
Or when the circus pulls up stakes, and heads out of town for good.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.