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Game at a Glance
Matchup: Colorado Buffaloes at Washington State Cougars
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. MT
Where: Gesa Field
Capacity: 32,952. Playing surface: FieldTurf
TV: FS1
Radio: KOA (850 AM)
Odds: Washington State by 4.5
Series: Washington State leads 7-6
There’s no question that Colorado head coach Deion Sanders loves to win.
“My cologne is called, ‘Win,’” he said this week.
He’s also got the life experience to handle a season that isn’t going as expected.
On Friday night, Sanders will lead the Buffaloes (4-6, 1-6 Pac-12) into Pullman, Wash., for a battle with the Washington State Cougars (4-6, 1-6). CU has lost four in a row, yet Sanders remained upbeat this week as the Buffs prepared for the road trip.
“My mood is always good,” he said. “I’m in a winning slump. I’m not in a life slump. You gotta balance the two now. So I rock steady. So, life-losses; losses-life. I’m balanced.”
The only man to ever play in a Super Bowl and a World Series, Sanders knows what winning looks like and also knows it doesn’t happen quickly. He had great success in his playing career, but also was part of an Atlanta Falcons team that went 8-24 in his first two seasons in the NFL.
“We’re going through a patch right now that we’re learning how to (win) and as long as there’s progress, I’m good,” he said. “Every week I see progress. I’m ecstatic about that.”
Sanders admits he thought the Buffs would be better than they are right now.
“No, definitely not,” he said when asked if this is where he imagined the team would be through 10 games. “I imagined we would be much better, but long as we’re progressing I’m happy with it. My expectations are my expectation. You gotta understand that. My expectation is going to always exceed their expectations and your expectations. I’m going to always exceed that.”
Where the Buffs continue to meet expectations is in their work and preparation. Despite struggles to get over the hump in close contests – the Buffs are 3-4 in one-score games – the Buffs continue to battle.
“What you see now is what I’ve been seeing,” safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig said of the program development. “It’s nothing new to me.”
Silmon-Craig played for Sanders at Jackson State. While the results aren’t the same at CU, the day-to-day has been.
“He’s coached the same way he coached (at JSU),” Silmon-Craig said. “The players are starting to play the same way that we used to, so it’s the same for me. I mean, we develop in the same way, just a hardhat mentality, coming out and working hard. It took us a minute to catch up to his speed and catch up what he wants to do but we’re there just working hard. That’s the Coach Prime method.”
Outside linebacker Jordan Domineck has been impressed by the method. A sixth-year senior who is in his first and only season at CU, he believes the Buffs are still showing up every day with a long-term view of success.
“Even if we don’t go to a bowl game and we end up losing out the last two games, well, how much can you improve from this game to that game to this game?” Domineck said. “Just understand that it’s a process and it’s always going to be an ongoing process. I feel like that’s what gets everybody to play hard. They come in, they have the energy, that passion and then their teammates are also able to hold them accountable.
“We have great leaders within the program, and everybody is able to hold each and everybody accountable.”
Domineck added that players strive to keep each other uplifted, make sure there’s energy in practice and they’ve never lost sight of the fun of the game.
“People don’t understand that fun aspect of it is really what’s gonna make people want to be here, what’s going to make people want to go out there and give it their all,” Domineck said.
As a coach, Sanders focuses on the details. The message to the team has been about taking care of the details – limiting penalties, doing better on individual assignments, playing a full 60 minutes as one, etc.
Domineck, who spent four seasons at Georgia Tech and one year at Arkansas before coming to CU in January, sees incremental improvement in those details. And, he sounded like a life-long Buff as he smiled while talking about what CU could look like a year from now.
“I’m not gonna lie, they’re growing exponentially,” he said. “I can’t even to say. My words wouldn’t even do what’s happening in there justice. The amount of effort, the amount of work that everybody’s put in, the amount of commitment that a lot of people have put in, it’s just a lot for me.
“As a senior leaving, it’s just great to know that the program that I’m leaving is gonna be in great hands.”
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