The Colorado Buffaloes knew it would be a challenging season after losing Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. However, head coach Deion Sanders believed his team would rise to the occasion. Early in the season, clock management emerged as the biggest problem.

“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’s something that Coach Sanders, Coach Shurmur has got to learn from and get better from moving forward. And same goes for the quarterback Kaidon Salter.”

The Buffaloes have struggled all season, but on Saturday, they were completely outplayed in what might be Sanders’ worst half as a coach.

“It’s hard to imagine that following an upset win over Iowa State and a bye week that Colorado would play the worst half of Deion Sanders’ era, but that’s what happened. The Buffaloes’ offense has no answers to the Utes’ pressure package, which has sacked Kaidon Salter five times and blocked a punt,” Buffalo Wire’s Jack Freeman wrote.

Given how poorly the game was going, Colorado’s 104.3 The Fan’s Will Peterson called for a complete staff overhaul.

“Yeah, the Buffs need to fire Deion Sanders and his whole staff. This is embarrassing,” Peterson posted.

After last season, Colorado fans were optimistic about the program following a nine-win campaign. However, Sanders’ popularity has sharply declined. Firing him this early would be detrimental, but his team is far from meeting expectations. Between health issues and poor performance, many fans are calling for a change in Boulder.