Game at a Glance
Matchup: Colorado Buffaloes at West Virginia Mountaineers
Kickoff: 10 a.m. MT
Where: Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia
Capacity: 60,000 (FieldTurf)
TV: TNT/truTV/HBO Max
Radio: KOA (850 AM/94.1 FM)
Odds: West Virginia by 6
Series: Tied 1-1
About 13 minutes into his press conference on Tuesday, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders took a sip of water and set his cup down, but then inadvertently knocked it over.
Throughout the next three minutes, he kept glancing over at a small pile of ice that slowly melted, with nothing near him to clean it up.
At the conclusion of the press conference, Sanders said to staffers, “Give me something so I can clean this up. I can’t let anybody clean this up. I’ll clean up my own mess.”
It was a moment that, in a small way, epitomized Colorado’s season to this point.
Sanders isn’t necessarily solely responsible for the Buffaloes’ recent nosedive, although he has the pointed the finger at himself as the leader of the program. But, much like the melting ice, it’s a problem he is aiming to fix.
“I’m not happy by any means,” Sanders said Tuesday as he and the Buffs prepared for a matchup at West Virginia. “We’re underachieving, and I’ve got to fix it.”
Prior to the season, Sanders repeatedly said he felt CU had a better team than the Buffs’ squad that went 9-4 a year ago. He hasn’t expressed that belief in a while, as it’s been clear this group isn’t up to the 2024 standard.
For weeks, the Buffs were falling just short, with one-score losses to Georgia Tech and BYU and a 14-point loss at TCU that was much closer than that (the game was tied midway through the fourth quarter).
That was followed by an upset win against then-No. 22 Iowa State on Oct. 11. Since then, Sanders’ team has not just underachieved, but simply not shown up. Back-to-back blowout losses have made the Buffs look more like the pre-Sanders years than the banner 2024 campaign.
Sanders said all criticism, as it relates to the game, is fair to throw at the players. Yet, he’s also made a point to shield his players from that criticism as much as possible, by not putting them in front of the media this week.
“I know if they can’t handle this at this time, certain guys,” he said.
It’s certainly become a bigger mess than Sanders anticipated, but, as with the melting ice, he’s put it on himself to be better and get things cleaned up.
“(I need) to stay on everybody,” he said. “It has to be preparation to the fullest, including me. It has to be intellect and understanding what’s going to happen, what should be happening, what you see. The correct meeting times, the messages dispersed inside the meeting rooms, attention to details and in practice, attention to details in everything we do. More tough on the disciplined things.
“That (little) stuff translates to the game. It translates to the field. It’s your life. If you don’t focus on the little things, the big things are going to fall through as well.”
Plenty of big things have fallen through in the past two weeks, as CU’s season, once filled with hope for a second consecutive bowl game, has soured. A three-game winning streak to close the season is needed to reach a bowl, but that’s a tall task.
Cleaning up the current mess, however, is possible. CU’s opponent, in fact, has done that this season.
West Virginia had lost five in a row, including a 45-13 blowout at Central Florida – which is also near the bottom of the Big 12 standings. West Virginia responded with a close loss to TCU and then an upset win at No. 22 Houston.
“A couple weeks ago in the Central Florida game, I was upset because we didn’t just not play well, but I didn’t think our effort was to the standard which we expect our guys,” WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said. “And then the last couple weeks, it has been.
“I think most coaches will tell you, every week (keeping players bought in) is a battle.”
It’s a battle that Sanders continues as the Buffs head to Morgantown.