CU Buffs make statement against Central Florida in biggest win of Coach Prime era

ORLANDO, Fla. — The postgame scenes from the two biggest wins of the Deion Sanders era couldn’t be more different.

The first, after the Buffaloes’ shocking upset win at TCU in Week 1 of last season, featured a Coach Prime ready to let anyone and everyone in front of him know what just happened and what was going to keep happening.

“Should I pull out my receipts?” Sanders asked reporters.

“Do you believe now?” he repeated to a longtime Dallas writer.

The second was a win that arguably surpassed that one versus TCU over a year ago — and it came in another place that Sanders called home for a large portion of his life.

But after CU’s 48-21 win on the road against Central Florida — one that the Buffs entered as two touchdown underdogs — this was a very different Sanders. One who shrugged off any suggestion his team was slighted by the oddsmakers.

“We don’t care about that, y’all do,” Sanders said. “We’re underdogs every week. That’s just the nature of the game. We’re not mad about it. We know who we are.”

The most recent victory was ripe with superlatives.

It was the Buffs’ largest margin of victory of the Sanders era.

It was the first time CU scored at least 40 points in a road conference game since 2016 — when the Buffs made it all the way to the Pac-12 championship game.

It was the first time CU won a conference game by three scores since that same season.

It was the program's largest margin of victory in a road conference game since 2005.

“This is one of the first times we came out and played a collective game — offensively, defensively, as well as special teams,” Sanders said.

Just compare Saturday night’s win to where the Buffs were 53 weeks ago.

It was after a Week 4 beatdown and reality check at the hands of Oregon that Sanders said, “You better get us now.”

Sanders was confident his program had better days ahead. And Saturday's win takes the Buffaloes to 4-1 heading into the first of two bye weeks.

“I feel like you guys are seeing the fruit of a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication (and) great hires,” Sanders said. “Bringing the right guys in with the right attitudes, the right work ethic. … I love where we are as a program. Could we be better? Of course. I think everyone can, but I know we’re trending in the right direction.”

The win against the heavy favorite in his home state required mid-week travel adjustments and the players responded.

It was the defense that limited the UCF rushing attack to 200 less rushing yards than their average.

It was the offense that scored points on eight of 10 drives at one point during the game.

It was a game that was controlled by the Buffs on both lines of scrimmage — a rarity for the majority of the last few years.

“I’m so darn proud of where we are,” Sanders said. “We could be in a whole different place right now. We’re 4-1 right now going into the break and I’m so excited, you have no idea.”

Excited, because he wanted to share the moment with the people that helped get the program to where it is right now.

“It’s gonna be a really good plane ride (home) tonight,” the CU coach said.