BOULDER — As Deion Sanders often says, the Colorado coach is “too blessed to be stressed.”
“Do I look like a man that worries about anything? Did you see the way I walked in here? Did you see the swagger that was with me? Worry? Baby I’m too blessed to be stressed,” Coach Prime said at his introductory press conference in Boulder.
Nothing has changed almost two years into his Buffaloes tenure. As his No. 23 CU team needs to win — and get help across the conference — to make it to the Big 12 championship game next weekend, Sanders is only focused on one thing: beating Oklahoma State.
That must be first on the agenda for the Buffs. They kick off the college football weekend against the Cowboys at 10 a.m. Friday while most of the conference plays on Saturday.
After last week’s loss to Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium, CU no longer controls its destiny. If the Buffs had beaten the Jayhawks, they would be in sole possession of first place in the Big 12 and with essentially one foot in the title game.
“We had an opportunity. We squandered it,” Sanders said.
Sanders admitted the Kansas loss is tough to flush and CU’s next opponent is staring at an 0-9 Big 12 record.
“We have a tremendous task at hand,” Sanders said. “(Oklahoma State is) not playing indicative of their record. They’re much better. They have a winning program (with) one of the most heralded coaches (Mike Gundy) in the Big 12 and he’s been that way for a while. I’ve got a lot of love and admiration for him. He is flat-out hilarious to me. He is honest, real and hilarious.”
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, left, and Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre, right, compare helmets before a news conference, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, in San Antonio. Oklahoma State and Colorado will play in the Alamo Bowl. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
This week is about the Buffs relocating their recipe for success. They responded well to the previous two losses and feel confident in their ability to bounce back once again.
“We just wanna finish right, we wanna end right,” Coach Prime said. “We have the best fanbase, I feel like, in college football and I’m thankful that they hurt because we’re hurting because they have expectations. At the beginning of the season, we talked about (how) last year was a year of hope. We instilled hope. Now, it’s (about) expectation and people are frustrated and mad because of the expectation and I like that.”
There is still hope for the Buffs, though.
Their path to the conference title game is simple, even if all of the tiebreakers make it feel like a math equation that everyone forgot from high school algebra.
First, CU must win. Second, the Buffs need certain teams to lose.
If two of Arizona State, BYU and Iowa State lose, the Buffs will be in. The other scenarios are BYU losing with Texas Tech, Baylor and Cincinnati all winning or BYU losing with Texas Tech winning and either Baylor or Cincinnati losing.
It sounds complicated, but CU fans should be rooting for the other two-loss teams to lose.
Coach Prime won’t be following along, though.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders talks to offensive tackle Jordan Seaton (77) in the first half during an NCAA college football game against Arizona, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Either they’ll wake up Sunday and get ready to play for a Big 12 title the following Saturday, or they’ll wait another week to find out their bowl destination.
“I’m not the type of guy to sit down and wish everyone loses so we can reach our goal,” Sanders said. “I’m not built like that. Let’s go out and kick butt and whatever happens, happens. I don’t wish wrong on somebody so we can be right. We want to go out there and play the best game that we can play for ourselves. Period. Regardless of what happens the day after.”
