Why Deion Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes Are Being Blamed for ‘Poor Time Management’

ESPN's Dusty Dvoracek called the game in Boulder, Colorado, and he spoke about Sanders' decision not to call any timeouts with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter:

"Really poor clock management. There's really no other way to look at it. Maybe even after the first play, you call a timeout. Definitely after the second play. You gotta call a timeout. Every second is so precious in that scenario, and you got two timeouts in your back pocket," said Dvoracek.

"The last thing you ever want to do in a situation like this is it comes down to the end and you're fighting with the clock, is to the end the game with multiple timeouts in your pocket," Dvoracek continued. "That's something that Coach Sanders, Coach Shurmur has got to learn from and get better from moving forward. And same goes for the quarterback Kaidon Salter."

What Deion Sanders Said

After the game, Sanders spoke to the media about what happened on Colorado's last drive.

"I think we got out of bounds a couple of times. We didn’t have to take ‘em. So that’s what transpired. We got out of bounds, I think, on both sidelines, and that’s what happened. After the first, we had a good play, and we caught the ball with 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 timeout in that sense," said Sanders.

"We were really just 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’ve got to be strategic," Sanders continued.

Colorado Buffaloes Lose Season Opener

The Buffaloes defense made an impact early, but the Yellow Jackets offense finished with 463 total yards and were 6/11 on third down conversions. Salter and kicker Alejandro Mata kept the Buffaloes in the game, but Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King stole the show with three rushing touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets.

King did turn the ball over three times as Colorado inside linebacker Martavius French recovered two fumbles and Buffaloes cornerback DJ McKinney intercepted King in the opening frame alone.

Despite the early turnovers from Georgia Tech, Salter and the Buffaloes offense only scored one touchdown off of the three turnovers. In the first quarter, Salter found Colorado running back DeKalon Taylor in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown pass.

After the slow start, King finished the game with 143 passing yards and 156 rushing yards.

At halftime, the Buffaloes trailed 13-10, and they never reclaimed their first quarter lead. Before heading into the locker room, Sanders spoke to ESPN's Taylor McGregor about Salter's performance.

"He's playing good. Solid game. We just gotta be more productive offensively. We started off going right down the darn field then we had some hiccups. Defensively, I think it’s a couple of bad plays on third down, and that’s why they’re up right now," said Sanders.