Deion Sanders doesn’t understand one of the Colorado football team’s biggest flaws through three games.
The Buffs are the most-penalized team in the Big 12 entering Week 4. They’ve been called for 28 penalties which have resulted in 247 penalty yards for an average of 82 penalty yards per game. It’s hard to win when you’re consistently shooting yourself in the foot, and Colorado found that out the hard way in Week 3.
During the Buffs’ 34-point loss to Northwestern last week, Deion Sanders watched his team get called for nine penalties (80 penalty yards). He believes it’s related to pressure, not preparation.
“Penalties are tough on me because everything we do, and these guys will tell you, is about discipline,” Deion Sanders said Tuesday. “Everything they do is discipline, discipline, discipline. Then when you get out there on the field, you’re undisciplined. I don’t understand. It’s hard to fathom.
“That means pressure is bringing out certain things that shouldn’t be in you, but it’s coming out. And it shouldn’t, because we are disciplined in every other area.”
Colorado was able to overcome an absurd amount of penalties (112 penalty yards) in Week 2 against Weber State but not against a Power 4 opponent, especially when some of them came at the most inopportune times. A defensive holding and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (just a couple of examples) extended Northwestern drives that ended in TDs.
The (untimely) penalties are a trend that can’t bleed into Big 12 play which begins for Deion Sanders and the Buffs on Saturday at Baylor. It could be a game full of yellow flags since the Bears are the second-most penalized team in the Big 12 through three weeks, trailing only Colorado.
Coach Prime believes his team is better in that department than it was a year ago, but he’s keeping an even closer eye on it as conference play kicks off.
“I don’t want to compare a team to a team. But even the nonsense things (from last year) like late to breakfast or missing this or late to this and that or not weighing in, we cut down on that like 80%,” Deion Sanders said Tuesday. “So I still don’t understand some of those things, but we are really on that right now.
“They can tell you, we’re on everything right now with a microscope. We’re challenging them to be who they say they want to be.”
Follow Colorado Buffaloes beat reporter Scott Procter on X.
