Colorado Buffs football legend Shedeur Sanders sent bittersweet message on showing at 52-17 loss to Arizona

Shedeur Sanders showed up to Folsom Field this past Saturday to support his father’s football team, but the Colorado Buffaloes suffered a 52-17 loss to the Arizona Wildcats in what was their second consecutive 50-point loss and worst home loss in the “Prime Time” era.

While the “Grown QB” did his famous pregame walk with his father, Deion Sanders, Coach Prime didn’t get anywhere close to Shedeur’s level of play during his program’s embarrassing effort in Week 10. Kaidon Salter was ineffective, and Ryan Staub was even more ineffective when he was subbed in for him. That's a microcosm of the 2025 season. Later on during the rout, Julian Lewis injured his hand in limited reps, and fourth-string Bethune-Cookman Wildcats transfer Dominiq Ponder even saw the field.

If you’re not winning, you’re in a bad, bad way deploying the fourth guy on your depth chart under center. Even when CU wasn’t winning with Shedeur, things never came close to being that bad. Certainly, that was never going to happen in 2024, where nearly every game was within striking distance.

This team is different. In the worst ways. USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer relayed the prevailing narrative that’s permeating across the board in 2025: things are so, so much worse now than they were a year ago.

“Shedeur Sanders surprised his father by visiting him in Boulder Saturday during an off week for the Browns. He renewed his former pregame ritual with his father by walking with him on the field before kickoff,” Schrotenboer wrote.

“His presence at the homecoming game also served as a reminder of one of Colorado's biggest problems this season: lackluster play at quarterback.”

In a way, that’s good for Shedeur’s legacy. But it’s certainly not what he wants from his father’s program and his alma mater.

Coach Prime sounded more concerned about seeing Shedeur than his team’s performance.

“These shenanigans put a damper on it. I haven't seen my son in a long time. Forget the game. Forget this. Forget that. I haven't seen my son in a long time, so that was quite emotional for me, him surprising me today in the office,” Deion said.

Sadness is the theme for CU’s current campaign. Deion and Buffs fans everywhere miss Shedeur too much.

But if Coach Prime plans on making his program about how good it was for one year in 2024, and reminisces about it without moving the needle forward, this coaching tenure isn’t long for Boulder.