The Colorado Buffaloes aren’t living up to the standard set by Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. With problems in the quarterback room, the team turned to their third-stringer, Ryan Staub, to start on the road at Houston. The Buffaloes lost that game, and head coach Deion Sanders faced heavy criticism afterward.
“Starting Ryan Staub was a questionable choice from the beginning and yet another decision from Deion Sanders showing that he is very out of his depths,” NFL Draft analyst Anthony Russo wrote.
Clock management has also been a persistent issue for Sanders, dating back to their Week 1 loss against Georgia Tech.
“Really poor clock management. There’s really no other way to look at it. Maybe even after the first play, you call a timeout. Definitely after the second play. You gotta call a timeout. Every second is so precious in that scenario, and you got two timeouts in your back pocket,” said ESPN’s Dusty Dvoracek. “The last thing you ever want to do in a situation like this is it comes down to the end and you’re fighting with the clock, is to end the game with multiple timeouts in your pocket.”
That problem resurfaced again on Friday, and Sanders was grilled once more. However, after the game, he shifted the blame onto his players, accusing them of not being ready for the moment.
“And sometimes it felt like the moment was just too big for some of our athletes. And they gotta do something about that,” Sanders told the media.
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It’s ironic that Sanders criticizes his players for not being ready when he himself seems unprepared to manage the clock effectively. The entire last possession was rushed, and on the interception by Kaidon Salter, a timeout could—and probably should—have been called.
Times are getting tough in Boulder, and the Buffaloes don’t have much time to turn things around. If Sanders learned proper clock management, Colorado could easily have two more wins on their schedule.
