Shedeur Sanders Praised by Fans for Heroic Effort in Deion, Colorado's Loss to USC

Colorado's comeback attempt fell short as it suffered a 48-41 loss to No. 9 USC on Saturday at home in Boulder.

Plenty of fans will have written off the Buffs after they fell behind by 27 points in the second quarter, a lead USC reestablished with 2:14 left in the third quarter. Twenty unanswered points from Deion Sanders' squad turned this into a game.

After Oregon carved the Buffaloes up to the tune of 42 points and 522 yards, fans weren't overly optimistic about their odds of slowing down Trojans star Caleb Williams. As expected, Colorado's defense had no answer for the reigning Heisman Trophy winner early on. He finished 30-of-40 through the air for 403 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders at least managed to have a better day than he did against Oregon, going 30-of-45 for 371 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Although USC's offense scored at will for most of the contest, head coach Lincoln Riley won't be happy about how Colorado moved the ball in the second half.

Sanders will have made an impression on the 30 NFL scouts who were in attendance, and Colorado likewise turned what was shaping up to be a shellacking into a much more respectable defeat.

USC scored on the opening drive of the game, with running back MarShawn Lloyd making it look easy on his 27-yard scamper. The Trojans' 498 yards of offense don't dispel the questions over whether the Buffaloes defense can hold its own against good opponents.

You can't blame Coach Prime and his players for fully enjoying their 3-0 start, but Colorado was going to find its true level sooner or later. Even if the current roster is almost unrecognizable from the one that finished 1-11 in 2022, there's only so much improvement that can come from one recruiting/transfer cycle.

The next few weeks are where the Buffs need to start piling up the wins again. They have Arizona State and Stanford, who are both 1-3, up next before a difficult road test against 3-1 UCLA.

Saturday might ultimately be a good measure of where Colorado is collectively.

Reeling off three straight wins and moving up to No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll flattered the Buffaloes, yet they were better than they showed in their one-sided defeat to Oregon.

USC won't be the last Pac-12 power to have its hands full when playing Colorado.