Colorado coach Deion Sanders had just watched his team finish the home opener with a 31-point cushion when he turned the locker room into a question about the way the Buffaloes had won. Sanders wanted to know if what he had watched looked like winning football.

“Is that a winning team? Is this winning activity? What y’all going to do about it?” Sanders asked in locker room footage credited to Deion Sanders Jr. “I always have to do something about it. I always have to check it. I always have to check everything.”

Deion Sanders went after the players who looked satisfied

The next part explains why the clip traveled so quickly. Sanders was looking at the players who appeared comfortable with the result, and he made his standard pretty clear.

“And the sad thing about it, some of y’all are satisfied with that,” Sanders said. “You definitely ain’t no dog. You ain’t no killer and you definitely ain’t no pro.”

“If I were y’all, I wouldn’t even go out and party and kick it, because it’s going to be a lot of conditioning tomorrow,” Sanders said. “Because this is not the winning recipe to win it all. You guys are happy with winning the game. I’m trying to win it all.”

Colorado had won comfortably, but Sanders saw satisfaction before the team had played the kind of football he expects from a championship contender.

Deion Sanders carried the same standard to the podium

Sanders carried the same frustration into his postgame press conference. He gave the result its due, then raised the standard again.

“I am ecstatic about the win, but my expectations far exceed our productivity of the day,” Sanders said. 

“We’re trying to win a championship. We’re not just trying to win a game. Maybe you’re comfortable with that. I’m not comfortable with that,” Sanders said. “I’m a bona fide winner. In my life, I’m a winner. I’ve always won, and I want to win.”

Even the offense, which produced 578 yards, did not get a pass.

Sanders summed up his frustration with a line that sounded strange after a comfortable win: “We didn’t capitalize on offense. We only scored 52 points.”

Deion Sanders had a list behind the frustration

Sanders had specifics behind the frustration. Colorado was flagged 13 times for 107 yards and lost two fumbles. Those mistakes did not threaten the final result, but they gave Weber State extra chances and kept Sanders from treating the afternoon like finished work. The same discipline will follow Chris Marve’s defense and the rest of the roster into the next week.

Colorado goes on the road to Northwestern next, and the schedule gets less forgiving from there. Penalties and loose ball mistakes become harder to live with when the explosive plays in Brennan Marion’s offense do not arrive as often.

Sanders was asking his players to judge the win against the season they say they want.

Quarterback Julian Lewis sounded as if he understood the distinction after his record-setting afternoon.

“Nobody is satisfied with where we’re at. 2-0 is not the end goal,” Lewis said before pointing to Colorado’s Big 12 and national championship ambitions.

The locker room had just won by 31. Sanders was coaching the reaction because being pleased with one Saturday can get in the way of what Colorado is really aiming for.

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