The last time we saw the Colorado Buffaloes on the football field, they upset the Iowa State Cyclones on Oct. 11. It was a huge win for Deion Sanders’ squad, which improved to 3-4 on the season.
While Colorado has certainly been struggling as a whole in its first year after losing both Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to the NFL Draft, it at least put together a feel-good win heading into its first bye week.
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Now, the Buffaloes are preparing to face a tough Utah Utes ballclub this Saturday, but Deion isn’t happy. Why? Some of his players did not return from the bye week in time for the team’s first practice.
“You got to get back Sunday, and a couple of guys didn’t make it,” Sanders said on the Colorado Football Coaches Show. “There’s consequences to it. You’re gonna see those consequences. You’re gonna say, ‘I wonder why?’ That’s why.”
Sanders didn’t specify which players violated his rule, but it’s clear that they will have to deal with him personally.
Colorado hired Sanders as head coach heading into the 2023 campaign. The Buffaloes went 4-8 in his debut, but last year, Sanders bounced back with a strong 9-4 season that ended in a blowout loss to BYU in the Alamo Bowl.
Expectations were not nearly as high for Colorado going into 2025, thanks to all of the talent it lost via the draft, but based on how good of a job Sanders did as coach in Year 2, people were careful not to doubt the team in Boulder.
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But things have proven to be difficult for the Buffaloes thus far this year. The win over Iowa State was certainly impressive, but their victories over Delaware and Wyoming were hardly moving.
Colorado will face a pretty stiff test against Utah this weekend. The Buffaloes still have a chance to qualify for a bowl game, but they’ll really have to turn it up a notch in the closing stretch of the regular season. Of course, Sanders’ players will all have to be on board for that to happen. Not showing up out of the bye week runs contrary to that.
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