Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes eliminated from bowl contention after loss

This will be another losing season for Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders.

With a 29-22 loss to West Virginia on Saturday, Sanders’ Buffaloes were eliminated from bowl contention and will finish with a losing record for the second time in three seasons.

Sanders said after the game: “That’s not who we are. We’re better than that, and they deserve better than that. I want better than that. I feel like I’m coached better than that. I feel like we have much better players than the production we’re putting out.”

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“So you have to define the coaches, that’s us, and that starts with me, because I think we have a core in the locker room that we need to handle this with. I don’t think we’ve played a team that’s that much better than us athletically and physically. I really don’t think about that, and I’ll focus on that.”

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Deion Sanders (center), his sons Shedeur Sanders (left) and Deion Sanders Jr. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

Many critics were wondering how Sanders’ roster would perform in 2025 after his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and two-way star Travis Hunter left for the NFL.

Shedeur and Hunter were the cornerstones of Deion’s college coaching career, which stretched back to his first two seasons at Jackson State.

Ahead of Saturday’s must-win game, Sanders named five-star freshman Julian Lewis as the team’s starting quarterback. Lewis threw two goals in his first collegiate start.

The team had rotated between point guards Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub in its first nine games.

Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders walks the sidelines at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday. (Ben Queen/Imagn Images)

Now Lewis has officially lost his redshirt status with just two games left in the losing season.

Last year, Colorado went 9-4 and Sanders signed a five-year, $54 million extension that puts him under contract through 2029.

Colorado athletic director Rick George expressed his confidence in Sanders earlier this week.

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“I’m proud of Coach Prime. It’s been a tough year he’s had. He’s been a trooper, he works hard, he motivates. He does the things I ask him to do as a coach. We just have to win more FB games,” George told reporters.

In July, Sanders announced Doctors had removed his bladder after the discovery of a tumor.

Sanders said there has been no evidence of cancer since the surgery.

Doctors said part of Sanders’ intestine was reconstructed to function as a bladder. Sanders faced questions about whether he would coach after his health problems, but he remained committed to Colorado.

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