FORT WORTH, Texas — Coach Deion Sanders believed Colorado would win from the moment he accepted the job.
He believed the Buffs would win, even though they were one of college football’s worst teams in 2022. He believed when others laughed or criticized him for bringing 58 transfers and 70 new players into the program.
He believed when others scoffed at his success at Jackson State and implied he couldn’t replicate it at Colorado.
Well, they are a lot more believers now after Colorado, a 20-point underdog, shocked TCU 45-42.
“I’ve been talking about it and talking about it, and you didn’t believe me,” Coach Prime said.
They should have.
He quickly turned a moribund Jackson State program into a winner, going 27-6 in three seasons. Jackson State went 23-3 the last two seasons, winning consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championships.
Skeptics scoffed, saying Deion Sanders had a talent advantage that gave him an edge over his SWAC opponents.
“We’re gonna continuously be questioned because we do things that have never been done. That makes people uncomfortable,” Coach Prime said. “When you see a confident Black man sitting up here, talking his talk, walking his walk, coaching 75 percent African Americans in the locker room, that’s kind of threatening.
“Oh, they don’t like that. But we’re gonna consistently do what we do. Because I’m here, and I ain’t goin’ nowhere. And I’m about to get comfortable in a minute.”
Deion Sanders shifting culture in Colorado
The win spoke to the culture Coach Prime has established at Colorado in just a few months.
The Buffs overcame adversity, falling behind 42-38 in the fourth quarter after blowing a 10-point, third-quarter lead. They played with poise, and in the process, you could see Colorado’s players start to believe the way their coach believed.
The Buffs put on a show that will allow Coach Prime to recruit elite offensive and defensive linemen the way he attracts skill-position players.
Once their lines are fortified, Coach Prime’s teams will compete at the highest level.
Colorado won because quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the coach’s son, and cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter turned in phenomenal performances. So did freshman running back Dylan Edwards, and the defense made just enough plays to help Colorado win.
“A lot of you didn’t believe in us,” Shedeur Sanders said after the game. “It’s crazy because you just got to understand our coach, Coach Prime, my dad, everywhere he went, he was a winner every game, every opportunity he took advantage of.”
The Horned Frogs, ranked 17th, lost in the BCS Championship game last season. Still, they returned eight players, and they’ve won at least 10 games 13 times since 2000, which is why Coach Prime’s staff believed this would be a good test to measure where they were in the college football world.
How Buffs overcame TCU
Understand, there was nothing fluky about Colorado’s win.
They led 17-14 at halftime and 31-28 entering the fourth quarter.
Sanders passed for a school-record 510 yards with four touchdowns. He completed 38 of 47 passes and had at least two deep balls dropped and an apparent touchdown pass overruled by replay.
Hunter played 110 snaps in 100 degrees. He caught 11 passes for 119 yards as a receiver, intercepted a pass, and broke up another at cornerback while yielding just one reception. Edwards, who played for Sanders’ youth organization as a kid, ran six times for 24 yards and a touchdown. He also caught five passes for 135 yards and touchdown receptions of four, 75 and 46.
The last one on fourth-and-1 gave Colorado the lead for good with 4:25 left. He caught the pass in the left flat, made a defender miss, and outraced others to the end zone.
Colorado’s defense, which yielded 541 yards and 292 yards rushing, finally stopped TCU. An incompletion in fourth-and-nine gave Colorado the ball, and a four-yard run from Sy’Veon Wilkerson on third-and-three ended the game.
“They showed up. They were more ready to play than we were, think more excited to play, think they played harder,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “It seemed like they had more determination down the stretch than we did. So, again that, it’s a real credit to them. I think their coaching staff, they really did a good job getting them ready to play.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is an NFL Insider for Sportsnaut and the author of the upcoming book “Coach Prime“, with Deion Sanders. Follow him on Twitter.