Deion Sanders after his son gets painkiller injection in loss: `You go get new linemen'

PASADENA, Calif. – Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders got battered, slammed and chased so often here Saturday night that his father Deion struggled to come up with a way to stop it.

But what could either of them do?

Colorado’s overmatched offensive line kept collapsing, making Shedeur Sanders a sitting duck for UCLA’s vaunted defense. The No. 24 Bruins (6-2) sacked him five times in the first half, leading him to get painkiller injection at halftime before the Buffaloes finally succumbed in a 28-16 loss at the Rose Bowl.

“The big picture, you go get new linemen,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said afterward. "That’s the picture, and I’m gonna paint if perfectly."

After capturing the nation’s attention with a 3-0 start, Colorado is now 4-4 with no relief in sight with four games left in the regular season. The Buffaloes next host No. 12 Oregon State Saturday at home, hoping they can find ways to survive on offense with an offensive line that struggled mightily before Saturday and then suffered some injury setbacks to make it even worse.

“I’m a little biased because I’m his father, but I think we have the best quarterback in the country,” Deion Sanders said. “I don’t think any other quarterback can put up with, stand and deliver like ours do, week in and week out and take in the beating that he’s taken. We've got to address that.”

What else did Deion Sanders say?

The Buffs’ first-year coach said his team got its “butts kicked” but also “played their butts off.” He noted how the only game his team didn’t have a chance to win this season was its 42-6 loss at Oregon last month.

Even in this game, despite his woeful offensive line, Colorado was competitive and capable of winning for most of it but didn’t score its first touchdown until there was 2:37 left in front of a sellout crowd of 71,343.

Deion Sanders even said he was proud of his team.

“They hung in there as long as they could,” Deion Sanders said.

The biggest issue was the lack of protection for his quarterback, who entered the game ranked second nationally in passing yards per game with (345.7) despite all that. On Saturday, Shedeur Sanders was sacked seven times and finished with 27-for-43 passing for 217 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.

“Yeah, I’m cool, a little banged up right now,” Shedeur Sanders said of his health. “That's just what happens after games when you’re playing against tough opponents, a great defensive rush. That’s just what happens.”

His father said he will give him a few days off to recover.

“He’s hurting everywhere,” Deion Sanders said. “Trust me.”

The Pro Football Hall of Famer otherwise was in a somewhat jovial mood, even extending his news conference afterward by volunteering to take additional questions. One reason for this is he says he has hope. He said he thinks his team is “seven to 10 players away from really doing what we want to do in college football."

“I’m accustomed to winning, and we will win," Sanders said. "We will win. Just put your seatbelt on and hold on. We will win. You’ve got to see what could possibly happen with the team that we have.  I mean, we really only got our butts kicked once, and that was in Oregon … All the other games, you could see how we could have won those games. We could have done that. That’s called hope in our book.”

What happened in the game?

The Buffaloes scored field goals on each of their first two possessions of the game before punting on their next five drives as the pocket kept collapsing around quarterback Shedeur Sanders before halftime, when UCLA led 7-6.

But the Colorado defense still held the fort after being challenged by Deion Sanders in the wake of its own collapse in its previous game against Stanford. The Buffs came up with four turnovers in the first half, including two interceptions from two-way star Travis Hunter.

The problem for the Buffs is that they barely took advantage of those takeaways and only netted three points in direct result.

Making matters for Colorado, starting safety Shilo Sanders was ejected from the game late in the second quarter after getting penalized for targeting on a hard hit with his helmet. Deion Sanders told ABC television at halftime that he thought the penalty call against his son was “horrendous,” but replays showed Shilo Sanders’ helmet violently popping the chin of UCLA running back Carsen Ryan to stop him in his tracks.

Afterward, Deion Sanders said he was still questioning the call and said it was a “tremendous blow” to lose the “quarterback of the defense.” Shilo Sanders finished with four solo tackles and a forced fumble.

"I believe he was not in fault, because he turned his shoulder," Deion Sanders said. "He always does. He knows how to hit. And I told him I’m proud of him. He was having a heck of a game."

What did Deion Sanders tell his team at halftime?

He wasn’t happy after starting well and then caving with only 13 total yards in the second quarter. The Buffs also managed just nine rushing yards in the first half.

“I don’t recall everything I said, but it was rough,” he said of his halftime message.

It got even worse for the Buffs after halftime when UCLA needed just two plays to go 75 yards and take a 14-6 lead just 35 seconds into the second half. The Bruins caught the Buffs’ defense off guard on the second play, using a quick snap from quarterback Ethan Garbers, who found tight end Moliki Matavao open over the middle for a 26-yard touchdown pass.

UCLA then put the game away with two rushing touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter to take a 28-9 lead with 6:34 left. On the first of those drives, UCLA also benefited from a call that Deion Sanders questioned afterward. It happened on third down and 7 from the UCLA 49-yard line, when Garbers threw the ball to receiver Logan Loya. The play was ruled an incomplete pass before it was reversed after a replay review that showed Loya's trailing toe in bounds to keep the drive alive.

If not for that, the Buffs would have been "off the field" on defense, Sanders said.

That and the disqualification of Shilo Sanders had a "tremendous bearing on the outcome of the game," Sanders said.

Garbers, a transfer from Washington, completed 20 of his 27 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

Chip Kelly praises Shedeur Sanders

Afterward, even UCLA coach Chip Kelly said he wanted to “to give credit to Shedeur.” The Colorado junior entered the game ranked No. 8 nationally in completion percentage (72.3) even though only two teams in the nation had given up more quarterback sacks than the Buffs before Saturday with 35.

“He’s a tough kid,” he said. “I mean, he got hit and he kept balling, so it was a good battle. We are glad, we are fortunate that we came out on top.”

Shedeur Sanders didn't want to point fingers at his blockers afterward when he could have. He said he team's defense "did everything they were supposed to do" and that it was the offense's job to score more points.

"That's on us; that's on me," he said. "We can’t afford to not put up points like that, especially when the defense is doing their job."

His father hopes better offensive line recruits are watching and will want to come block for Shedeur next year when he'll be a senior.

"It’s very easy to understand this is what we need and this is the type of quarterback we have," Deion Sanders said. "So I’m happy with what I see for the future."

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]