What Deion Sanders Learned About Colorado Buffaloes Team From Week 1 Loss

BOULDER — Typical for a season opener, the Colorado Buffaloes showed some good and some bad in their 27-20 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Friday evening.

Coach Deion Sanders' squad had some success running the ball, but poor run defense and an inability to capitalize on Georgia Tech's mistakes ultimately doomed the Buffs. Quarterback Kaidon Salter was also up and down in his first Power Four start, particularly in the passing game.

Fortunately for Colorado, three very winnable games await against Delaware, Houston and Wyoming. However, "Coach Prime" and Co. must learn from Friday's shortfall to ensure growth in the coming weeks.

Deion Sanders Shares What He Learned About Colorado

Deion Sanders Learned Colorado Buffaloes Loss Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Coach Prime Micah Welch Haynes King Teon Parks Game — Aug 29, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Members of the Colorado Buffaloes line up across from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the fourth quarter at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

During his postgame press conference, "Coach Prime" was asked to share what he learned about his new Buffs team.

"They didn't quit whatsoever," Sanders said. "They were physical. Offensively, when you're seeing the linemen saying, 'Coach, let's do this. Let's run the ball. Let's run it down their throats.' I'm hooking my guy. I'm killing the guy. That's the kind of verbiage that you hear. The receivers wanted to eat as well. So I love a lot of those things that I saw."

Colorado rushed for a healthy 146 yards, including 64 from running back Micah Welch and 43 from Salter. The receivers didn't exactly eat, however, as no non-running back had more than two catches.

"Coach Prime" was less pleased by what he saw and heard on the defensive end. The Buffs allowed Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King to run for 156 yards and three touchdowns and committed a pair of sloppy penalties.

"Defensively, we got to clean up all that," Sanders said. "We just got gashed for 463 yards. Their quarterback (King) is looking like a Heisman candidate right now. We made that happen for him. We got to do a better job collectively defensively on neutralizing opposing teams' running game And when they take shots, we can't get a PI (pass interference). We got to do a better job with that as well."

Linebacker Reginald Hughes led the Buffs with 11 tackles, cornerback DJ McKinney had a first quarter interception and linebacker Martavius French recovered two fumbles. Cornerback Teon Parks was charged with CU's lone defensive pass interference while covering Georgia Tech wide receiver Isiah Canion.

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Deion Sanders Remaining Optimistic

With the Delaware Blue Hens up next on the schedule, "Coach Prime" believes his CU team will figure things out.

"I'm optimistic on everything," Sanders said. "We're definitely gonna be fine. I'm not concerned about that. And we could've won that game. It's not like we got our butts kicked, like we could have won the game."