SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Colorado head coach Deion Sanders<\/a> hopped on a golf cart subsequent to his bodyguard and zoomed down a stadium tunnel on his method out of city.
He had simply answered questions from reporters about what occurred right here Saturday night time within the Alamo Bowl \u2013 a 36-14 loss against BYU<\/a> in his closing recreation teaching his two youngest sons in school.
He simply didn\u2019t wish to dwell on it.
\u201cThat\u2019s a wrap,\u201d Sanders mentioned. \u201cIt\u2019s over.\u201d
He mentioned the loss wouldn\u2019t overshadow the bigger journey he\u2019s had at Colorado as a result of they\u2019re already \u201con to the subsequent.\u201d Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter<\/a> and Sanders’ sons will attempt to climb the ladder to the NFL subsequent season after two seasons at Colorado.
\u201cThey\u2019re gonna have super careers,\u201d Sanders mentioned. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna transfer on. They flush it.\u201d
But it surely was nonetheless fairly an egg they laid on the Alamodome in entrance of a sold-out crowd of 64,261, particularly after all of the build-up about how emotional this game would be for Sanders<\/a>. Earlier than the sport, ABC tv cameras even centered on him as he walked his closing pregame stroll along with his quarterback son Shedeur and security son Shilo.
Then got here kickoff and \u2013 poof \u2013 their edge was gone.
BYU (11-2) appeared way more keen than the Buffaloes<\/a> (9-4), who’ve been recognized for beginning slowly this season, most notably in a devastating 37-21 loss against Kansas<\/a> final month, after they fell behind 17-0 and by no means recovered.
On this case, they did it once more, following the lead of their dwell bison mascot, Ralphie, who tried to run on the sphere earlier than the sport however as an alternative simply type of walked earlier than heading for the exits.
The Buffs fell right into a 20-0 gap at halftime, failed to attain on their first six possessions and managed simply 61 yards of whole offense within the first half.
The place did all of it go fallacious on offense?
\u201cIn every single place,\u201d mentioned Shedeur Sanders, who was sacked 4 instances and completed 16-of-23 passing for 208 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. \u201cIt was nothing that we did nice tonight.\u201d
\u201cDitto,\u201d mentioned his father.
Regardless of what occurred Saturday, Shedeur Sanders nonetheless could be the primary quarterback chosen within the NFL draft in April. It\u2019s prone to be him or Cam Ward, the quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes.
However each took decidedly completely different approaches to how they dealt with their closing school video games on Saturday. Sanders determined to play the sport although it could have cost him millions of dollars in future earnings<\/a> if he received injured in it regardless of the insurance coverage coverage he obtained for it.
Ward determined to play in his bowl recreation Saturday, too, but not after halftime<\/a>. His Hurricanes, main 31-28 on the half, ended up dropping 42-41.
Against this, Sanders performed to the top within the fourth quarter, even when the sport was properly out of attain after BYU took a 36-7 lead with 5:28 left.
Why threat it?
\u201cWe began it, so we needed to end it,\u201d Sanders mentioned. \u201cIt doesn’t matter what it was, if it was the opposite method round \u2026 we had been nonetheless gonna play regardless.\u201d
Hunter, the two-way star, additionally performed many of the recreation and completed with 4 catches for 106 yards and a landing as a receiver, together with 4 tackles on protection. Fortunately, there have been no important accidents.
In some ways, the Buffs seemed like final 12 months\u2019s staff, after they completed 4-8 in Deion Sanders\u2019 first season. They dedicated 5 penalties within the first half as Shedeur Sanders felt regular strain from the BYU protection. They disappeared at instances, trying nothing just like the staff that completed in a first-place tie with BYU and two different groups within the Huge 12 Convention.
At one level within the fourth quarter, BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker intercepted a move from Shedeur Sanders after which did Deion Sanders\u2019 outdated \u201cDeion Shuffle\u201d dance to have fun in entrance of the Colorado sideline.
\u201cI really feel like going into this recreation, particularly seeing Travis Hunter and Shedeur and these nice gamers on Colorado, I really feel like no one on our staff was nervous,\u201d Glasker mentioned. \u201cWe simply was able to play.\u201d
Colorado was not, which was shocking for a purpose, simply two years after the Buffs completed 1-11 previous to hiring Sanders as coach.
\u201cWe established expectations,\u201d Deion Sanders mentioned. \u201cSo now you anticipate us to carry out a sure method. You anticipate us to win. You anticipate us to be thrilling. You anticipate us to be much more disciplined than we simply performed at present. You simply have expectations of us now. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve established.\u201d
It nonetheless was Colorado\u2019s finest season since 2016, when the Buffs completed 10-4, additionally after a blowout loss within the Alamo Bowl. However it is going to be troublesome for Colorado to measure as much as these expectations after dropping Hunter and Shedeur Sanders.
\u201cIt felt nice representing Colorado and bringing it again to the place it was prior to now,\u201d Shedeur Sanders mentioned. \u201cWe laid the muse of this system so now it\u2019s ready for the opposite gamers coming in to take off and decide up the place we left off.\u201d
Observe reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer<\/a>. Electronic mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com<\/em>
(This story was up to date so as to add new info.)<\/em><\/p>\n