Colorado opened its 2025 season with a puzzling 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech on Friday night.
With 1:07 left and the ball at their own 25-yard line, the Buffaloes had a chance to tie the game. Instead, they gained just 25 yards in six plays, burned clock, and took two unused timeouts with home with them as time expired.
From the announcers in the booth to those on social media, many were left scratching their heads at what head coach Deion Sanders and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur were thinking in the final moments.
“Coach Prime can take those two timeouts into next week I suppose,” SI’s Pat Forde said.
The Athletic’s Steward Mandel added, “Not the finest game management night for Coach Prime.
Sanders was certainly displeased after the loss to the Yellow Jackets.
“Timing, personnel… I’m not gonna say what I really want to say,” Sanders said in his postgame press conference, per Buffs beat reporter Oliver Hayes.
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This game marked a new era of sorts for Sanders in his third season at Colorado, as he’s now without much of the star power — most notably his sons Shedeur and Shilo, as well as Travis Hunter — that helped put the program on the map in 2023.
Shedeur, now a backup with the Cleveland Browns, showed confidence in his father and the Buffaloes afterward.
“They’ll figure things out. They have a great head coach,” Shedeur posted on X.
It was the first game Sanders has coached without Shedeur starting at quarterback since their time together at Jackson State. Replacing him was Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, a redshirt senior.
Salter and the Colorado offense struggled to find rhythm for much of the night. The Buffs finished with 305 total yards and converted just five of 13 third downs. Salter went 17-of-28 for 159 yards and one touchdown through the air, while adding 43 rushing yards and another score on 13 carries.
For Sanders, this was an opportunity to show he could win without the star players who carried the program the past two seasons. Instead, against a solid Power Four opponent that could be a dark horse in the ACC, Sanders and the Buffaloes were left with a season-opening loss.
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