Everything Deion Sanders Said About Clock Management in Loss To Georgia Tech

"I think we only sustained one injury tonight. I think it was a pulled hamstring, something like [that], we tweaked a hamstring tonight. Oh, Lord, that's a tough one, especially provoking three turnovers and really not coming up plentiful for that; it's not good. Got to be more explosive, more definitive, more decisive, with what we're doing with the ball on offense," said Sanders.

"Defensively, we gave up 463 yards of total offense. They ran for 320 yards. You're not going to win with those statistics. Tried many things. We tried blitzing, trying to fill every gap, but we couldn't get the job done. They were much more physical than we were. They were much more aggressive. At times, we made some plays. We should have capitalized off, some of the plays we made, but that first half, we didn't, and now we're playing catch-up aesthetically. And it's not like we were tricked, fooled, anything."

"I think we had success running the ball at times as well, but we missed a few plays that we should have hit. I think you all saw that, but overall, man, you got to give them credit. They coached a heck of a game. They played a half a heck of a game. The quarterback started off horribly, but he picked it right back up and did his thing. Man, so hats off to him. He led his team to a victory."

"I think our special teams, as I told you, would be special. They didn't get a kickoff return. [Alejandro] Mata was Mata. We punted the ball well, as well. So special teams were special, but we got to do a better job offensively and defensively, and I would take the onus on that. We will do better next week," Sanders concluded.

On Georgia Tech Quarterback Haynes King's Rushing:

"Opportunity. He had a tremendous amount of opportunities, and sooner or later, you know, you keep going to the well, something's going to happen. And they were committed to running their quarterback and making it happen. They were truly committed to that. We had some tremendous stops as well, but they kept going and going and going."

"And we were tired and exhausted, whatever, and we should be as much as we trained on that last run, because we just didn't look like we normally looked the entire game defensively."

On What Led To Inability To Capitalize On Early Turnovers:

"Timing, personnel. What we're trying to do, we just got to do a better job. We got to do a better job of making it happen. We got to do a better job making it happen. I'm not gonna sit up here, you know, I'm not an excuse guy whatsoever, and I'm gonna say what I really want to say, either. So, but we gotta do a better job of making it happen. "

On Kaiden Salter's Performance:

"Well, a couple of times, I think he should have ran, and he threw. I don't want him to prove to us that he could throw the ball. We know he could throw the ball. We wanted [him] because he's a dual-threat, and we want him to be a dual-threat. But I don't think we lost the game because of Kaidon Salter by any means. He put us in a situation to win."

On The Secondary's Heavy Rotation:

"Bunch of guys. You know, it's still a competition everywhere on the other corner, we did some things, a couple things cost us a little bit with penalties as well. But I think going into, I don't think I know going into next week is more definitive or what it's going to be, and it's going to take a good week of practice too. Some guys have been injured. That's why they went out there as well."

On Expectations Of Physicality:

"It depends on what you're looking for. Defensively, no, there's no way you can say you're physical and you got your butt kicked like that. But offensively, you probably would sit out there saying, what? Dang, they should keep running the ball, right? Because you saw the physicality that we've been talking about offensively and on that line," said Sanders.

"I like some things that I saw, I didn't like some things that I saw. But, first of all, at the loss, you focus on what's bad at first, because it's still hurting, but then you kind of flip it and focus on what was good and try to build off that."

On The Late-Game Clock Management:

"I think we got out of bounds a couple times, so we didn't have to take them, so that's what transpired. We got out of bounds, I think, on both sidelines, and that's what happened. After the first I think we got a good play. And when we caught the ball, I think for nine yards, we got one yard to go. So if you get the first down, the clock stops, so it don't make sense to really use your time out in that sense."

For context, Colorado did not run out of bounds after the drive's first play. The Buffs had the ball with 1:07 on the clock, and it did not stop until Salter went out of bounds on the drive's third play, with 18 seconds left.

"We were just really trying to preserve them until we certainly needed them. So, I don't want to go home with timeouts. They don't do me no good, but you got to be strategic as well, just burning timeouts, just to burn them, just so you guys won't say nothing, that don't make sense at all, but I think we got out of bounds a couple of times, which preserved it for us, and we had incompletions."

On His Health Status:

"Good, good. I don't feel good right now, but I felt darn good during the game. I think we were playing a heck of a game, and we could have played a little better, but I felt darn good. Staff was doing a great job. I mean, you're two or three big plays. I mean, a first down deep ball, you know, we right there. We don't need passing affairs. Another deep ball, we're right there."

"We don't need the nonsense. And we allowed it to happen. And those are huge plays, like those plays come back to haunt you, but we're going to get that correct, and we're going to fix it."

On Martavius French:

"He played with passion. He played with fire. He made some plays. It's hard to applaud the defense when we gave up darn near 500 yards. Man, that's kind of tough. This is a great question. I tried my best to answer this politely as I could, but it's hard to applaud the defense right now."

On If He Feels The Early-Game Operation Was Slow:

"I'm not going to say that we have so many different personnel groups, just the smoothness of getting that in and out, it wasn't a challenge. But, you know, sometimes guys are not hearing correctly, or they're not seeing correctly, the signals that's being brought forth, but we rehearsed all this stuff, we practiced all this. We should have been smoother. We'll clean that up for you."

On The Run Game:

"I felt good. I think we should have capitalized on a few more and understand the backs that we have are pretty darn good backs. We got three guys back there, and Dallan isn't even playing right now, that can do the job. And we ran well, I thought we had a lot more yards than we had, that's quite wonderful considering years past. That's probably the highest we've had in a couple years, huh? Well, God bless that."

On Georgia Tech's Use Of Wide Receivers And Motion In Its Run Game:

"It's not challenging, because we know it was coming. It's what they do, and they do it really, really well. So it's not like it tricked us. We've just got to do a better job in stopping what they were doing. They executed tremendously."

On If He Saw Enough To Remain Positive Of His Team:

"Well, you always see that. I'm optimistic on everything. 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. They ran the heck out of the ball. They did that. But we had opportunities, like I'm pretty sure you guys are harping on the opportunities that we didn't take advantage of. So if we take advantage of those opportunities. I have a whole different mood up here right now. So we got to get that fixed, and we will get that fixed."

On If Salter Can Overcome Nerves:

"Yeah, he's gonna do that. Also, it's a couple of times he could've ran, and he decided to throw. It like dog, you're dual-threat. You know what that means? Use your legs. But man, he's a great kid, and he played his butt off. I'm proud of him in a lot of aspects."

On Isaiah Hardge's Strong Special Teams Performance:

"That's who he is. He's one of my favorites. And I think everybody knows that, that kid gives you everything he has, academically, just a great kid, never on any list, never late to anything, never missing anything. And he does his job, and he does it well, full speed at all times. Great kid.

On If The Offense Has Time To Find Its Identity:

"No. We ain't got time to gel. We gotta go right now. We don't have time to try to gel. We had a whole spring and whole summer to gel. We gotta go get it. We gotta go do it right now, and you're a few plays away from going to do it. The running game looked promising. We could have taken advantage of that a lot more. I think the passing game is promising. It ain't like they had us covered. You know, we got to take advantage of that a lot more," said Sanders.

"Once we combine those things, and you're going to see that going into next week, we're going to have it together. I'm very optimistic of where we are. I like, I like what I seen in some aspects. Just not defending the run."

On Ralphie VI's Retirement And Honoring Late Coach Bill McCartney:

"I'm not disappointed. Ralphie got to do what Ralphie got to do. I think you guys have taken a day off, right? Everybody in here, so give Ralphie some grace. I mean, she had a good run, right? So they're preparing another Ralphie, I'm pretty sure, and we're gonna be alright. Ralphie is gonna be straight."

"But tradition, we honor Coach Mac today tremendously. And I like that. You know, I had my own little look. I had to Prime it up a little bit. But this is sort of like the jacket he won. We definitely wanted to win for him. And I apologize for not doing such, because he was an icon, a legend, a man of God. He's so many things I wish I could do is have the things that he accomplished here."

On What He Saw From Micah Welch:

"Tremendous passion, tremendous physicality, tremendous toughness, and a guy not pouting when we took him out, and other guys had an opportunity, because you look for that. You look for who's not a team guy, who's a high guy. You look for that on timeouts. You look for who's standing up, who's sitting down, who's for the team. And that kid has made some unbelievable strides. And hats off to Marshall [Faulk], because he knows how to deal with each one of his backs individually as well as collectively."

On Offensive Lineman Chauncey Gooden's Status:

"I have no idea right now. I don't know."

On Lack Of Wide Receiver Involvement In The Pass Game:

"We're gonna get it right. Great question. We're gonna get that right. I promise you, we gonna get that right. When they had opportunities. They made plays. We're gonna get that right."

On What Sanders Learned About His Team:

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

"Defensively, we've got to clean up all that. I mean, we just got gashed for 463 yards. Man, the quarterback's looking like a Heisman candidate right now. We made that happen for him. We got to do a better job collectively defensively, on neutralizing the opposing team's running game, and when they take shots. We can't get PIs. We got to do a better job with that as well."

On His Presence Of Mind For Week 2 Against Delaware:

"I'm still here. I'm not on next weekend. I'm still here. I'm still present. It's going to be a minute before I flush this thing. So I got to really think about this, because I fought me more than anybody else, and I got to really see how I can improve to make sure we're on the right path of success. So I got to, I'm not nearly ready to flush this thing."

On If He Reflected On Not Having Sons Shedeur And Shilo Sanders:

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hardge came and grabbed me. He said, let's take the walk. And I was in tears taking the walk with Hardge, because he has that much love and that much compassion for me that he said, let's take this walk. And that was a wonderful moment. It's a moment that I would never forget, never. Because, it's not like I initiated, he came to me and said, Let's go."

"That's what this college football thing is about. It's about love. It's about peace, forgiveness, trials, tribulations. It's a tremendous journey that we just want these kids to develop into men, and hopefully, what transpired tonight will bring us closer together as a team, as well as challenge us to go to the next level and fix what was broken."