The Colorado Buffaloes beat the Colorado State Rams 28-9 on Saturday, and the Buffaloes made it a four possession game early in the fourth quarter on a Shedeur Sanders touchdown pass to Travis Hunter.
Both of Colorado's stars had big statistical nights with Hunter catching 13 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns, while Sanders completed 36-of-49 passes for 310 yards and four touchdown passes. Sanders's numbers in particular wouldn't have looks so impressive if he hadn't been in there chucking the ball on Colorado's final two possessions of the game.
The Buffaloes had two drives with a 28-9 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. Most people would consider that garbage time, but Colorado considered it prime time to pad the coach's son's stat line as they had him drop back 10 times with the game out of CSU's reach.
After running the ball on first-and-10 with 9:58 remaining, Colorado had Sanders drop back on five consecutive plays. After a holding call negated a deep completion to Jimmy Horn Jr., Colorado finally ran the ball again on third-and-23 before punting the ball away.
On the ensuing possession, with a 19-point lead and 2:55 remaining, Sanders threw the ball on first and second down. After Charlie Offerdahl picked up a first down on the ground with 1:44 to go, he got one more carry before Sanders threw incomplete passes on second, third and fourth down.
At this point CBS announcers Rich Waltz and Ross Tucker could no longer contain themselves. After Sanders went deep on second down they showed a package highlighting Colorado's questionable clock management decisions at the end of the North Dakota State game.
As Sanders again threw it on third down, Waltz asked Tucker what he made of these calls.
CBS announcers Rich Waltz and Ross Tucker couldn't believe that Deion Sanders still had Shedeur Sanders throwing passes and taking hits while leading by 19 in the final minute of the CU-CSU game. 🏈🎙️ pic.twitter.com/eNsQRY2V0I
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
"I gotta be honest with you," Tucker said. "I think this has to be coming from Deion Sanders. Because I just can't imagine this is what Pat Shurmur would want to be doing in this situation. I mean, he's a three-time NFL head coach. I think Pat would just be taking a knee and winning the football game and not taking a chance that any offensive linemen gets hurt or the quarterback gets hit again. Now they're going for it on fourth down."
After another incompletion to end the drive, Waltz chimed in saying, "It makes no sense. It's a long season. I mean, they've got Baylor next week. It's into the Big XII."
"Can you imagine what we would be saying all week if Shedeur Sanders got his throwing arm hit in a game where they're up 19 with less than a minute left that they could have just taken a knee," Tucker asked. "I don't understand. ... I have not seen very many teams in my life in NFL or FCS football do that. It's a really interesting choice."
Sanders just being in the game was shocking enough at that point. The fact that they had him dropping back to pass in a game that was already decided, behind a questionable offensive line says everything you need to know about what Colorado's real goals this season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as CBS Announcers Bewildered by How Late Shedeur Sanders Was Throwing vs. CSU.
