Fans Think Deion Sanders Almost Made a Costly Mistake in Week 1

On Thursday night, coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes made their 2024 college football debut against the North Dakota State Bison. Colorado squeaked out a 31-26 win to start the season off 1-0.

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and wide receiver Travis Hunter were the stars of the show, as expected. Sanders completed 26 of his 34 pass attempts for 445 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Hunter caught seven passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns.

In Colorado's final possession, with under two minutes left in the game, all Deion needed to do was have his team run the ball to waste some clock and end the game. But on a first down play with 1:41 remaining, Sanders elected for a deep pass, which fell incomplete and stopped the clock.

The Bison only had two timeouts remaining prior to this play but were saved from using one. After calling their second and third timeouts of the half on second and third down, North Dakota State was able to get the ball back with 30 seconds left and a chance to win.

Fortunately for Prime and the Buffaloes, NDSU's hail mary attempt fell just short after being completed at the Colorado four-yard line, giving the home crowd a scare.

College football fans did not like Deion's clock management down the stretch and took to social media to criticize him for it.

"Deion Sanders almost lost the game on poor clock management when he could have run the clock out but instead threw the ball."

"Improper clock management by Deion Sanders nearly cost the Buffs the game; improper clock management by the officials saved them. NDSU ends the game inside the 5."

"Deion Sanders Man U gotta manage the clock and game better."

"Deion Sanders’ clock management is painful to watch - it’s like watching a 12-year-old play Madden"

"Deion Sanders explaining his clock management"

"Major clock mismanagement by Deion Sanders and Colorado here late throwing the football on that 1st and 10. Not Mario Cristobal level bad but still not good."

Colorado will head to Lincoln, Nebraska, in week 2 to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Buffaloes got the best of the Cornhuskers in the 2023 edition of the rivalry, winning by a final score of 36-14.

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