Too often this season, Deion Sanders hasn’t had any desire to go out to grab a bite to eat after a Colorado football game.
On Saturday, the Buffaloes’ head coach was actually looking forward to a potential night out.
“The streets are different when you win,” he said with a laugh after the Buffs’ 24-17 upset of No. 22 Iowa State in front of a sold-out crowd of 52,698 at Folsom Field.
So is the mood in the locker room and the throughout The Champions Center.
After a week that began with Sanders in the hospital for a procedure to relieve blood clots, and his team struggling on a two-game skid, Colorado needed this one.
In the previous two weeks, the Buffs jumped out to 14-0 leads against quality opponents in BYU and TCU, only to sputter down the stretch and lose.
At 0-3 in the Big 12 (and 2-4 overall) coming into the week, CU’s season was on the brink of falling apart with a loss to the Cyclones (5-2, 2-2), who were ranked as No. 14 before losing their past two games.
“I mean, your season could go this way or that way (with this game), and the most frustrating part about it is that we’re good,” Sanders said. “And I know that sounds crazy, especially when you say the record aloud, but we’re good.”
The Buffs never held a two-touchdown lead Saturday but held the lead for much the day and finished strong for the first time in several weeks.
Down 17-14 midway through the third quarter, the Buffs outscored Iowa State 10-0 the rest of the way, getting big plays on offense and some crucial stops on defense.
“Tremendous, but we still got work to do,” Sanders said. “But overall, I gotta say, man, even with the faults that we had, we got the W.”
A week after throwing three interceptions in a 35-21 loss at TCU, quarterback Kaidon Salter threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns and hit some big-time passes throughout the day for the Buffs.
“It was great just knowing that last week I didn’t play my best, and coming out this week and doing what I had to do for us to win this game,” Salter said. “And we knew this was a big game for us. Coach told us, would you rather be 3-4 than 2-5? That’s what we wanted to go out there and do, just win this game and go into the bye week feeling confident.”
Salter wasn’t alone in stepping up.
The defense, which has given up back-breaking second-half scores in recent weeks, came up with an interception (by Tawfiq Byard) and a fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter.
Even punter Damon Greaves, who has been solid all year, had a bad game at TCU but rebounded by putting three punts inside the 10-yard line to help the Buffs win some field position battles.
“We didn’t get that performance from him last week, and he was emphasizing that, ‘Watch what I do next week, and I like the way he responded,’” Sanders said. “And several guys responded tremendously, and I’m really proud of that.”
Overall, the entire team responded on a day that could have broken their season.
At least for now, though, the Buffs can feel good knowing they’ve found a way to finish and pick up a big win. It was CU’s first win against a Top 25 team since Sept. 2, 2023, at TCU, and the first win against a ranked opponent at home since 2019 against Nebraska.
“It’s a phenomenal, phenomenal day,” Sanders said. “I’m so darn happy for these young men and the staff and everybody involved in our program. We fought for this one throughout the week, staying on their butts, making sure we’re not accepting mediocrity, because that can happen when you lose a couple games straight. I think that was our first stint that we lost back to back games for quite some time.
“Great day. I’m happy.”
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.