On Saturday morning in Boulder, Colorado the USC Trojans under reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams jumped out to a 33-7 lead over Coach Prime and his Colorado Buffaloes. While, it looked to be over the Buffaloes under the direction of quarterback Shedeur Sanders mounted a furious comeback to come up just short, losing 48-41.
Williams was as advertised, going 30 of 40 for 403 yards, six touchdowns and his first interception of the season. But most of Williams’ damage was done before halftime. On the other side was the aforementioned Sanders who struggled a bit in the first half but picked it up after halftime.
In the end, Sanders, who finished the day 30-for-45 for 371 yards, four touchdowns and one interception, and his CU Buffs teammates showed a lot grit, fight and intestinal fortitude to make a game of it. That’s a tribute to Coach Prime and how he’s changed the culture of the program.
Sanders Tells Haters Be Patient There’s So Much More To Come
In wake of his team’s second consecutive loss after starting 3-0, Sanders let his guys know how how proud he was of the fight they showed. He also knows this one wasn’t a complete beatdown like last week at Oregon, where the Buffs didn’t show much fight. As three-time national championship-winning and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said at halftime the game shouldn’t have been 33-14 but more like 21-14. He also mentioned that self-inflicted mistakes helped the Trojans jump out to the huge lead.
During his postgame presser, Coach Prime didn’t mention any of that, but his comments about where his team is in the first year of a rebuild were rather noteworthy.
“If you can’t see what’s coming with CU football, you’ve lost your mind. You’re just a flat-out hater if you can’t see what’s going on and what’s going to transpire over the next several months. Something’s wrong with you.”
Sanders is right, his team has proved they can move the ball and put up numbers every week except for last week at Oregon. But until he can fix his trench and linebacker play on defense and protect son Shedeur better on offense this will be the result against better competition.
Buffs Were Without Two Key Secondary Stars
Coach Prime’s team played Saturday’s game against the best player in college football, minus two-way star Travis Hunter (lacerated liver) and his other son Shilo (kidney injury). While he got some great play from two freshman in Omarion Miller (seven receptions for 196 yard and one touchdown). Five-star freshman Cormani McClain, the top-ranked cornerback in the 2023 class stepped up and played well after being called out during the week by his Hall of Fame coach.
Despite Saturday’s result, Coach Prime is correct, the CU Buffs football program is definitely coming.
