Colorado head coach Deion Sanders addressed the media after his team’s 53-7 defeat by Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025.
Sanders acknowledged the decisive result, attributing much of it to the performance of Utah and its longtime head coach Kyle Whittingham. “Coach Whittingham, he kicked my butt today. It was one on one, me and him, and he won by a significant margin,” Sanders said. He continued with praise for Whittingham: “Love his endurance, his longevity. The attitude of his team resembles the attitude that he has for himself. This is bad. It’s probably the worst beating I’ve ever had, except when my mama whooped me as a kid.”
The Buffaloes faced significant challenges throughout the contest, trailing 43-0 at halftime — their largest deficit at that point in a game since their previous meeting with Utah in 2022. On offense, Colorado managed just 140 total yards compared to Utah’s 587 yards and were limited to negative rushing yards in the first half.
Utah quarterback Byrd Ficklin stood out by rushing for 151 yards and a touchdown while also throwing for two touchdowns over three quarters of play. The Utes’ running game produced four touchdowns, including three that went for more than fifty yards.
Sanders expressed concern about Colorado’s defensive struggles: “(Giving up) 422 yards rushing, you’re not winning. 300 yards, you’re not winning. 250, you’re not winning.” He also cited issues across all aspects of play: “Total offense, 140 yards, you’re not winning. You’re not winning,” Sanders continued. “They had 587 yards of total offense. You’re not winning with that (defense). Special teams gave up a fake punt as well as block punt, you know, so all three phases, we got our butts kicked.”
Utah’s defense added seven sacks and forced Colorado into negative yardage during the first half alone.
On handling Utah’s defensive pressure Sanders stated: “They blitzed us to death. They’re still blitzing us right now, and we’re inside,” adding later “And guess what, I told them, ‘Be ready for the next week. Cat’s out the bag. Be ready for it.’”
Reflecting on program development and stability compared to Whittingham’s successful tenure at Utah Sanders commented: “Stability in certain areas, but the thing about it those areas show up and they show glimpses of success.”
Finally Sanders summed up his sense of disbelief: “Sometimes you’re just so dumbfounded you just stand there and (are) like ‘Wow what happened?’ There’s no way no way this should happen.”
Colorado will look ahead hoping to regroup from this result as they continue their season.
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