‘We got our butts kicked’: What Deion Sanders said about Utah’s one-sided win over moribund Colorado

Colorado coach Deion Sanders got straight to the point in his postgame press conference following Utah’s 53-7 manhandling of his Colorado squad Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and his squad put a whooping on the Buffaloes.

“Coach Whittingham, he kicked my butt today. It was one on one, me and him, and he won by a significant margin,” Sanders said.

“Love his endurance, his longevity. The attitude of his team resembles the attitude that he has for himself. This is bad. It’s probably the worst beating I’ve ever had, except when my mama whooped me as a kid.”

It was a historically bad loss for the Buffaloes.

The 43-0 halftime deficit was the largest for Colorado since the Buffaloes trailed Utah 42-0 at the break in their 2022 matchup. That day, Utah went on to win 63-21.

Colorado couldn’t contain Utah true freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin. Filling in for an injured Devon Dampier, Ficklin ran over and around the Buffaloes defense to the tune of 151 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

He also threw for 140 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters of play.

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The Buffaloes gave up 587 yards of total offense to Utah, including a whopping 398 in the first half. The Utes tore it up on the ground, running for 422 yards and four touchdowns.

That included three touchdown runs of over 50 yards.

“(Giving up) 422 yards rushing, you’re not winning. 300 yards, you’re not winning. 250, you’re not winning,” Sanders said, exacerbating the problem by emphasizing just how many yards the Buffaloes gave up on the ground.

The Buffaloes were also harassed by Utah’s defense all game, as they finished with 140 yards of total offense.

“Total offense, 140 yards, you’re not winning. You’re not winning,” Sanders continued. “They had 587 yards of total offense. You’re not winning with that (defense). Special teams gave up a fake punt as well as a blocked punt, you know, so all three phases, we got our butts kicked.”

The Utes ended up with seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss, while also accounting for a safety.

It was particularly bad in the first half, when Colorado had -18 yards of total offense and -41 yards on the ground.

Kaidon Salter ended up with -44 rushing yards in the opening two quarters before breaking loose a bit in the second half with the game’s outcome well-decided.

“They blitzed us to death. They’re still blitzing us right now, and we’re inside,” Sanders said. “And guess what, I told them, ‘Be ready for the next week. Cat’s out the bag. Be ready for it.’”

When asked about Whittingham’s program and its sustained success and how his team is trying to get there, Sanders again shared his frustration about how the night went.

“Stability in certain areas, but the thing about it, those areas show up, and they show glimpses of success,” Sanders said of what he’s trying to build in Boulder.

Then his thoughts went back to the rough night in Salt Lake City.

“Sometimes you’re just so dumbfounded, you just stand there and (are) like, ‘Wow, what happened?’ There’s no way, no way this should happen,” Sanders said.