Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders finally oversaw a loss with some pride on Saturday during a 29-22 West Virginia win in Morgantown. The prior two weeks following their bye, CU suffered a 52-17 loss to the Arizona Wildcats and a 53-7 loss to the Utah Utes.
As USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer noted, the Buffs’ pitfall from Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium was the team’s best offensive performance since a 24-17 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in mid-October.
Perhaps not coincidentally, it was Brett Bartolone’s debut as play-caller following an offensive coordinator switch from Pat Shurmur.
“Sanders has changed play-callers in the middle of a season previously, at Colorado in 2023 and at Jackson State in 2021. In 2023, he promoted Shurmur to play-caller and demoted offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who left after the season to become head coach at San Diego State,” Schrotenboer wrote.
“The offense didn’t get any better after Shurmur started calling plays that year, in large part because quarterback Shedeur Sanders was beaten up and injured. They lost their four remaining games after the switch. But Shurmur did help lead the Buffs to a 9-4 season last year. On Saturday, Colorado scored its most points since a 24-17 win against Iowa State Oct. 11, when Shurmur was still calling plays.”
Finishing the season strong against the Arizona State Sun Devils and Kansas State Wildcats, not even necessarily winning, just showing pride like they did against WVU, could go a long way in determining the longevity of “Prime Time” in Boulder.
Losing out and regressing from a 4-8 season in 2023 could be exactly the motivation Coach Prime needs to call it a career. It’s clear he’s not having as much fun without his sons or Travis Hunter on the team. The one son who remained in Colorado, Deion Jr., is capturing content from a losing locker for “Well Off Media.”
Things are bad, but at least getting better. God forbid it gets worse, and CU may be singing a different tune next year, with a different head coach in charge.
At least Coach Prime shook up the offense and didn’t keep trying to force what wasn’t working.