After the game, the Colorado offensive linemen joined Shedeur Sanders at the postgame press conference as his special guests. This came after they had protected him throughout the game.
To show his appreciation—perhaps even to make up for earlier comments—Sanders had his linemen stand with him at the news conference after their 28-9 victory over Colorado State.
The offensive line only allowed Sanders to be sacked once, and that was in the fourth quarter when the game was almost decided.
This was one of the best performances by the revamped offensive line since Sanders joined the team. He had plenty of time to throw, connecting with Travis Hunter for two touchdowns. Sanders passed for 310 yards and four touchdowns, completing 73.5% of his throws.
This was a turnaround from the previous week when Sanders was sacked five times against Nebraska and had criticized his blockers in a lighthearted way.
The message seemed to have been taken to heart.
“We all got together and understood, like, we’ve got to do it,” Sanders said. “Whenever everybody tries to push each other against each other, flip words, do everything like that, and together, we all stayed as a family. We’re all as one. So that’s just a good example of knowing the media, regardless of what they try to paint or anything, you can’t put us against each other.”
The offensive line, which included Phillip Houston, Kahlil Benson, Hank Zilinskas, Tyler Brown, Justin Mayers, and freshman Jordan Seaton, did an excellent job of keeping Sanders protected.
They also opened up running lanes, with Colorado rushing for 109 yards, the third-highest total since coach Deion Sanders came to Boulder.
“The offensive line was phenomenal,” the coach said. “You guys buried them last week after the game. You didn’t say anything tremendously positive when I think they almost went for 500 yards total offense and we won (against North Dakota State), right? Where was the praise and the love? But it was a lot of hate and disdain and, ‘Here we go again. Here we go again.’”
“These are young men. They’re not old like me … and don’t have the wisdom to handle all the nonsense.”
Sanders used the transfer portal to rebuild his offensive line again after his son was sacked 52 times last season and missed the last game due to a back fracture.
Now, what they might need most is time to grow and work together.
“We’re going to keep improving,” said Brown, whose team starts Big 12 play by hosting Baylor on Saturday. “Because we’re not satisfied. We’ll keep getting better.”
After the game, Shedeur Sanders declined a handshake from Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi. Sanders was upset by some remarks from Fowler-Nicolosi and receiver Tory Horton before the rivalry game.
The Rams felt the Buffaloes were lucky to win 43-35 in double overtime at Folsom Field last season. Fowler-Nicolosi had earlier said in a CBS Colorado interview, “We’ll see how far Instagram followers gets them.”
Sanders responded to Fowler-Nicolosi after the game in a video posted by “Well Off Media,” which follows Sanders and the Buffaloes.
“A couple of their players took shots at the whole program and some of our players,” Deion Sanders said after the game. “We knew it was going to be personal, and it was.
“We did what we needed to do to win. We really wanted it to be a clear victory.”
The connection between Sanders and Hunter was evident with Hunter catching 13 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Hunter also had an interception and played over 100 snaps on offense and defense.
The only time he got tired was chasing down Avery Morrow after a 62-yard run in the fourth quarter. “That’s probably the first time I did that,” Hunter joked about asking to be subbed out.
