Colorado has been balling out for the past few weeks but it was the Wildcats who put a stop to their three-game winning streak. The Big 12 battle was though a close one but the loss would certainly pinch Shedeur Sanders and his team as they came very close to tasting their first four-game streak with Deion Sanders.
It was far from being a perfect game for CU since quite a few factors contributed to Colorado’s 31-28 loss. The major factor of them all was CU’s inability to stop Kansas State’s running game.
CU Defense got rammed by Kansas State
The CU defense had a hard time dealing with 19-year-old Avery Johnson’s wrath. The Wildcats had a flawless running game which the defense failed to contain.
Colorado during the game surrendered 224 rushing yards to their opponents which as Deion believed was the most disappointing stat of the day. “That’s clock as well. That keeps our offense off the field,” Prime said.
But that wasn’t the only complaint Deion had from his defense. He also stated that the team didn’t tackle well and did not show up in clutch moments even though the coaches were exceptional at their jobs.
Inefficiency of Shilo Sanders
Shilo Sanders returned to the game after missing three games but it failed to impress Coach Prime or any of his fans as a matter of fact. Even though the safety made seven tackles but it felt that he might have lost his footing during the game.
His head-to-head against Wildcats RB DJ Giddens is one example of his night in Boulder. Giddens was seen checking Shilo multiple times in the open field, giving him a hard time. Moreover, he also put Shilo on his knees at one point in the game when the safety tried to tackle him on the line of scrimmage.
“I thought he played horrible,” Deion said. “I thought he was rusty.”
Shilo also proved inefficient in tackling as he struggled to prevent the opponents from gaining extra yards on some occasions. That said, Deion had complete faith that he would bounce back since Shilo did not play like himself.
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Travis Hunter becoming a setback on both sides
There has been not an ounce of a doubt that Travis Hunter should be a top Heisman candidate. He has become a football prodigy and is endorsed to play both ways in the league as well. However, Colorado’s game against Kansas State showed how it could barely be a practical business decision for any team in the NFL.
For a Jets fan, Travis Hunter picking an injury would feel like Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson both getting injured in the same play.
Although Hunter was seen on the sidelines in the later half of the game, but Deion claimed he was there to cheer on his teammates.
Receiver Room Crisis
Speaking of setbacks, Deion’s offense went through an anomaly this week when four of his star receivers went down with injuries. However CU being a passing-heavy team, Deion was prepared with enough backup in the receiver room.
During the course of the game, a total of 9 players caught passes from Shedeur Sanders and still put forth dominating numbers in their passing game as they always do.
However, one point to note was despite a crisis in the receiver room, CU did not shift its priority to the running game. This makes one wonder if their running game was contained by the opponents or lacking in the first place.
Shedeur Sanders shined bright in adversity
Despite CU being taken aback by the adverse situations presented to them, Shedeur stood his ground like a true leader. Although he lost his biggest weapons during the game and with little backing from the defense, the QB took the game to the last drive.
He took six sacks during the game against Avery Johnson’s four but still made sure to dominate the passing game all night. However, what made him a true leader was during his post-game presser when he did not blame the refs for not calling a pass interference late in the fourth quarter: a play that sealed the win for Kansas State.
“No, whatever the ref call you call. I don’t know if the call wasn’t pass interference so it’s okay we just got to move forward and assess what we did wrong and go into the next week and fix those things,” Shedeur said.
Meanwhile, Coach Prime who sat in the podium before Shedeur said that it looked like pass interference to him. This shows the mentality and the preparedness of the young QB who gives his all on the field week in and week out.
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