Deion Sanders: Stephen A. Smith 'Right' for Ripping Colorado's Loss to Stanford

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has never been one to shy away from criticism.

So on Monday when ESPN's Stephen A. Smith called the Buffaloes' demoralizing 46-43 loss in double overtime to the Stanford Cardinal "an absolute disgrace," Sanders didn't disagree with him:

Colorado led 29-0 at halftime before being outscored 46-14 over the final two quarters and two overtimes. The Buffaloes entered the game as 13.5-point favorites on their home field against the Cardinal, who had lost each of their last four games.

Friday night's loss set the mark for Colorado's largest blown lead in program history, surpassing a 28-point comeback surrendered to Kansas in 2010.

"I talked to them about the old cliche people say--it's 0-0 but that's not true. It's not 0-0, it's 29-0," Sanders said after the game. "I felt complacency going into the half because we stalled offensively, gave up some yardage as well. Just didn't like how I felt going in at halftime. We come back out and here comes complacency. Here comes that team that I can't stand, that you can't stand it. You can't understand how in the world that happens to us. But it did."

The Buffaloes were the darlings of the football world after their 3-0 start to the 2023 season, but losing three of their last four games has quickly brought them back down to earth. Colorado is allowing 35.9 points per game on defense, the eighth-worst mark in FBS.

This week's bye came at the right time for Sanders and the Buffaloes, who have much to reassess before returning to action on Oct. 28 against No. 25 UCLA.