MANHATTAN, Kansas \u2013 This week, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders showed his team a graphic that displayed all the games in which they were within striking distance of a win during the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, in real time, he reminded them again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Look at the scoreboard,\u2019\u201d Sanders said. \u201c\u2018This is how much time is left. This is the score. This is the situation. What are we gonna do with it? Because we have seen the same picture 100 times.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we did the same darn thing we always did, so we get the same old things we\u2019ve always gotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s season finale at Bill Snyder Family Stadium played out much like the rest of the season, with CU bringing good effort but not enough positive execution to get the job done, as Kansas State handed the Buffs a 24-14 loss.<\/p>\n
CU pulled within 17-14 midway through the fourth quarter and actually wound up out-gaining the Wildcats, 323-321, but it couldn\u2019t make enough plays in the last seven minutes.<\/p>\n
It was the sixth time this season that CU (3-9, 1-8 Big 12) had the lead or was within four points of the lead in the fourth quarter and wound up losing, making Saturday a fitting finish for a team that lost its last five games and fell woefully short of its own expectations.<\/p>\n
After going 9-4 a year ago, this is just the third time in program history that the Buffs\u2019 win total dropped by at least six games over the previous year. The 1962 Buffs were seven wins worse than the previous year, and the 1906 squad was six wins worse (although did have four ties).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis fan base, the school, (athletic director Rick George), everybody deserves much better than this, and they expected much better than this,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cI expected much better than this, and we\u2019re gonna give them much better than this, starting tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Changes? Oh yes, there will be plenty, Sanders promised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see everything being different, even me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked if that means different people being on the coaching staff, Sanders repeated, \u201cI see everything being different. Even me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in his news conference, Sanders said, \u201cI think we need to make severe changes, and we\u2019re gonna make them.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s already been reported that running backs coach Marshall Faulk is expected to be named the head coach at Southern University, but that\u2019s not likely to be the only change on the coaching staff.<\/p>\n
![\"MANHATTAN,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DCC-Z-CUvsKSU1112925.jpg\")
MANHATTAN, KS – NOVEMBER 29: Wide receiver Dre Lon Miller #6 of the Colorado Buffaloes runs with the ball during pre-game before a game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on November 29, 2025 in Manhattan, Kansas. (Photo by Peter Aiken\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
And, there will be a plethora of changes on the roster, between numerous graduations and those headed for the transfer portal.<\/p>\n
Sanders said he\u2019s already evaluated the program and that changes will occur quickly.<\/p>\n
The first order of business, he said, is changing the mentality of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a mentality,\u201d he said. \u201cA certain mentality you got to have when the game is right there, and you could take it either way. When you take it this way all the time, that\u2019s a problem on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the start of the year, Sanders and other players mentioned the Buffs\u2019 lack of leadership in the locker room. CU had great leaders in 2024, but not so much this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the leader, he doesn\u2019t try to lead; it just naturally happens,\u201d linebacker Jeremiah Brown said. \u201cAnd we just, unfortunately, didn\u2019t have very many of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders will be looking for those leaders this offseason, whether it\u2019s on the coaching staff, support staff or on the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t develop mentality,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cYou select mentality. You pick mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s tremendously difficult (to find strong mentality in recruiting), but it takes a little more work, and we\u2019ve got to be willing to put in the work that it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders, he said, will put in the work to get it right.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just told (the team), we won\u2019t be in this situation again. I promise you that,\u201d he said. \u201cI can promise you that, because I\u2019m not happy with nothing right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody\u2019s built to reconcile and to get this back on course, it\u2019s me, and I will do it if it\u2019s the last thing I do on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANHATTAN, Kansas \u2013 This week, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders showed his team a graphic that displayed all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[22521,22522,30417,11590,11496,5341,30418,7673,85,267,75,84,83,9,24,12,63,319],"class_list":["post-55964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-boulder","tag-boulder-county","tag-buffzone","tag-college-football","tag-college-sports","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}