Colorado football coach Deion Sanders did something after his team’s game against Utah Saturday, Oct. 14 that he says he never does when his team loses.

He told his team he was proud of them.

They lost against the No. 11 Utes in Boulder, 27-24. But the game came down to the final play and Colorado even took a 14-13 lead in the third quarter after getting dominated in the first half.

“I did something I never do after a loss,” Sanders said. “I stood up there on the podium and told those kids, ‘I’m really proud of y’all man.’ Because they fought. They didn’t give up. They had a chance.”

Sanders doesn’t usually revel in defeats that might be considered moral victories. This was different, however. Sanders smiled and laughed afterward in his postgame press conference despite the loss, Colorado’s fourth in a row to fall to 2-4. Utah improved to 6-0 with its 12th consecutive win, the nation’s current long winning streak.

“Every team that beat us this year, I fell like we could have won, like for some strange reason,” Sanders said. “I know we got our butts kicked at Northwestern (41-7), but the other losses I just felt like we had a better team. But we didn’t execute. So maybe they (the opponents) truly have a better team because they executed, and they did what they had to do. But just the way we fought to the end, it was no give up, and not only the players but the coaches, the support staff. It was no give up whatsoever. And there were some tears in there today, and I respect that.”

Why did Deion Sanders say this after a loss?

Colorado fell behind 13-0 by halftime, then scored 17 unanswered points to take the lead at 17-13 in the third quarter. The Buffaloes ultimately folded after an interception thrown by Colorado quarterback Isaac Wilson with about five minutes left and Buffs down 20-17. Utah sealed it three plays later with the third touchdown pass of the game from Utah quarterback Devon Dampier – a 6-yarder to receiver Braden Pegan to help put the Utes up 27-17 with 3:43 remaining.

But the Buffs still didn’t give up after that, setting off a wild sequence for them at the end:

▶ Wilson even drove them 83 yards downfield for another touchdown with 1:21 left to cut Utah’s lead back down to 27-24.

▶ Then the Colorado defense forced Utah to punt, giving Wilson the ball back with 56 seconds left on Colorado’s own 9-yard line. 

▶ Wilson took off running on third and 10 from the 30 and got to the Colorado 46-yard line when he tried to pitch the ball backward to a Colorado receiver running to his right. The receiver caught it and got to the Utah 38-yard line with six seconds left. But the replay showed the pass was an illegal forward pass, not backward, which resulted in a 5-yard penalty and put the ball back on Colorado’s 41-yard line.

▶ A quick 14-yard pass then moved them to Utah’s 45-yard line for the final play of the game. Wilson heaved it to the end zone, where it was batted down as time expired in front of an announced crowd of 52,489 at Folsom Field.

“We wish to God we could have sent them home with a smile on their face, but at least we sent them home with a little hope,” Sanders said of the crowd.

Colorado fans want more than hope

Colorado now is 2-14 against power conference teams under Sanders since the end of the 2024 season and has only beaten two ranked teams since Sanders’ debut at Colorado in 2023.

By contrast, Sanders’ predecessor at Colorado, coach Karl Dorrell, went 3-12 against power conference teams in the last 15 games before his firing in 2022.

Getting an extra week to prepare hasn’t helped Sanders, either. The Buffaloes are now 1-5 in games immediately after a bye weekend during his four seasons at Colorado. Last year, the Buffs came back from a bye week and got beat at Utah, 53-7. This time, they came back from a bye week and did better but still lost.

Wilson, a transfer from Utah, was facing his old team and finished with 18-of-30 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. He has thrown five interceptions in his last two games after taking the starting job from teammate Julian Lewis.

“I wanted this one bad,” Wilson said afterward. “I wanted this one really bad. I was there (at Utah). Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure. So hopefully I can keep it rolling for Colorado. We need a win. That starts with me. I had a bad, bad turnover in that second half (with the interception) that really caused a downfall.”

Colorado looked much worse before halftime

Utah led 13-0 at halftime after scoring a touchdown on its first possession of the game, just like it has in all of its games this season.  This time it was an 8-yard scoring pass from quarterback Devon Dampier to tight end Hunter Andrews, setting the tone for the Utes as they possessed the ball for 22:03 of the game’s first 30 minutes.

Utah had 19 first downs in the first half, compared to only three for Colorado.

Utah also dominated in total yardage before halftime, 248-70, as Wilson struggled to get the Buffs rolling. His team committed eight penalties for 82 yards before halftime, supercharging another sore subject for Sanders – though a couple of those penalties were questionable calls by game officials.

Colorado entered the game with the sixth-most penalties in the nation (45) after also leading its conference in penalties in 2023 and 2024.

“We all believed, and we fought to the end,” Colorado linebacker Gideon Lampron said. “There was no special speech at halftime. It was just we knew the jobs we had to do, and we had to be better than the first half.”

Dampier completed 24 of 41 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.

Colorado next plays at Oklahoma State on Saturday, Oct. 24.