Deion Sanders says "Let's just trust the process" after Oregon State loss

Coach Prime wants everyone to see the long-term benefits from Colorado's struggles

Chet Strange-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado coach Deion Sanders was frustrated with Saturday night's 26-19 loss to No. 16 Oregon State. It was a game to forget and learn from going forward, with the Buffs trying to stage another fourth quarter comeback.

Sanders took a series of questions from the media after the game, including why he made the decision to take play-calling duties away from Sean Lewis and give them to Pat Shurmur with a co-offensive coordinator title. He didn't shy away from the subject, noting there were "a whole lot of intangibles" that led to his decision.

Shurmur, a former NFL head coach, didn't have much of an impact for the Buffs offense and seems pretty vanilla compared to Lewis' scheme. CU tight ends coach Tim Brewster was moved to an off-field role to make room for Shurmur as the 10th assistant on Coach Prime's staff.

"We're not going to demean Sean Lewis. We're not going to take that tone," Sanders said. "Sean is a good man. I think he is a good play-caller. We just needed change at the time. We needed to try something else at the time, and that's what we did." He went on to say,"Let's just trust the process."

Colorado averaged over 40 points per game and hit the half-century mark in yards for half their games this season with Lewis. The offense was less productive with back-to-back ranked teams on schedule.

"Just know that I made the decision, and I don't stumble or stutter on it, and I'm not looking back," Sanders said. "It is what it is, and that's what it's going to be. I made a decision to help this team win.

"You guys don't know all the intangibles yet. You're just looking from the outside of the crib, looking in. I got tinted windows, and you can't even see in the house, but you're making conclusions on what I should and should not do."

At some point, Sanders needs to take this personal and think about his son's future. Buffs quarterback Shedeur Sanders took another heavyweight bout beating, repeatedly taking sacks and hits over and over again as the offensive line struggled. He finished with 245 passing yards and two touchdowns.

"It's got to be life-or-death situation for me to just leave everybody hanging like that, Sanders said. "The pain of not being there for them overrides the pain that's going through my body."

Shedeur was asked about changing over from Lewis to Shurmur. His response wasn't a suprise as the Buffs' "Grown" QB would do anything for the team.

"It's not really a big change. We're all in this together," Sanders said. "We use the same concepts, same everything. It's football."

Colorado needs two wins in the final three games for a postseason bid. Two of those against No. 23 Arizona and No. 13 Utah, with a matchup at Washington State in between. The Buffs and Wildcats kickoff Senior Day at Folsom Field on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.  A rare non-national game with coverage on the Pac-12 Network.