Colorado coach Deion Sanders has faced criticism for his team’s clock management in several games.
In a recent loss to Georgia Tech, Sanders did not use two remaining timeouts in the final minute.
The article details six specific games since 2023 where clock management was a potential issue for Colorado.
BOULDER, CO — Colorado football coach Deion Sanders got a little defensive this week when asked about the final 67 seconds of his team’s 27-20 loss against Georgia Tech on Aug. 29.
It’s a sore subject – clock management.
“Let’s just get the cat of the bag, all right?” Sanders said about it at a news conference Tuesday.
Even the best coaches have struggled with clock management in the NFL and in college football. In this case, Sanders had two timeouts left but didn’t use them after his team fell behind 27-20 with 1:07 left.
If Sanders had used those timeouts, the Buffaloes (0-1) could have had more time to get in better position to tie or win. USA TODAY Sports consulted with a football clock-management expert to explain why and also analyze other clock-management issues under Sanders, whose team hosts Delaware on Saturday.
“It sounds like he needs to read my book and appoint a clock assistant who ensures that my best practice rules are always adhered to,” said John T. Reed, who wrote a book entitled Football Clock Management.
Here are six times since 2023 that clock-management issues could have cost Sanders the game, ranked by severity.
No. 1: Colorado gifts extra time to North Dakota State
This one nearly ended in disaster for the Buffaloes in their season opener in 2024. They had a 31-26 lead with 2:19 left when they got the ball at their own 25-yard line. All they needed to do is run out the clock to end the game. Running the ball and staying inbounds is a good way to do that. But quarterback Shedeur Sanders instead threw five passes on his first six snaps, including a deep throw on first down with 1:41 left, which fell incomplete to stop the clock at 1:34.
The Buffs then punted the ball back to North Dakota State, who got one last chance to win the game with 31 seconds left at their own 8-yard line.
“You run the ball on first down… game could be over right now,” ESPN announcer Roddy Jones said.
It wasn’t. The Bison ran six plays for 88 yards in 31 seconds, including a 49-yard Hail Mary completion that ended four yards short of the end zone as time expired. Colorado won, 31-26.
Afterward, Deion Sanders said his son Shedeur was trying to spread the love to his receivers when he should have killed the clock.
“Every second you leave on the clock unnecessarily may be the one your opponent uses to beat you,” says the book by Reed, a graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School.
No. 2: Sanders saves two timeouts vs. Georgia Tech, 2025
Down 27-20 with 1:07 left at its own 25-yard line, Colorado had a chance to tie or win. On first down, quarterback Kaidon Salter threw a short pass to running back Micah Welch, who was tackled inbounds for a 2-yard loss with 1:02 left. Instead of using one of his two timeouts to stop the clock, Colorado allows the clock to tick down to 45 seconds left before the next play.
“Do you call a timeout there?” Deion Sanders said Tuesday. “No, you’re right there. You don’t call a time out there. You gotta go. You gotta go. You’re running tempo, right? “
The next play – another pass – goes for 11 yards, with the receiver being tackled inbounds with about 39 seconds left and one yard short of the first down. Then on third-and-1 , the play doesn’t start until 29 seconds are left. Salter got the first down on a run but took some extra time running toward the sideline out of bounds with 18 seconds left.
“The clock stopped, OK?” Sanders said. “Scramble play, he ran out of bounds. The clock stopped, right. Now we throw the ball out of the end zone. Clock stopped. So when was the time to call timeout?”
Reed said he “should have called timeout after the two inbounds plays” at the beginning of the drive. Nearly 30 seconds ticked off without it.
Colorado ended up throwing a failed Hail Mary pass from the 50-yard line as time expired and lost the game. Sanders never used his two remaining timeouts.
No. 3: Colorado bungles series vs. Oregon State, 2023
Colorado was down 7-3 and got the ball at its own 4-yard line with 49 seconds left before halftime. If the Buffs had kept the ball on the ground and run out the clock, that would have been the score at halftime.
Instead, quarterback Shedeur Sanders attempted two passes that fell incomplete on first and second down before handing the ball off for no gain on third down. This gave the Beavers time to score after they took a timeout with 36 seconds left.
After Colorado punted the ball back to Oregon State, the Beavers returned the punt 28 yards and then got a 20-yard touchdown catch on the next play, helping them stake a 14-3 lead with 16 second left in the half. Colorado lost the game, 26-19.
“That’s on me,” Deion Sanders told ESPN at halftime.
Reed said Colorado “should have stuck to inbounds running plays, maybe even taking a knee.”
“On your own 4 with :49 left before half in a game where you had not been moving the ball, your win probability, while probably below .500 will be best preserved by conservative runs to get away from the end zone,” Reed said.
No. 4: Colorado runs out of time vs. Southern California, 2023
Colorado fell behind 34-7 in the second quarter but came back in the second half, only to run out of time in a 48-41 loss. Colorado had used its final second-half timeout with 6:44 left in the game. Then when they got the ball down by 48-34 with 5:58 left, they appeared to lack urgency and ran five running plays on a 10-play touchdown drive that took 4:15 off the clock. USC got the ball back with 1:43 left and ran three plays to end the game.
Deion Sanders indicated afterward he burned a timeout earlier in the half because of personnel issues.
“I’d rather take a timeout than risk six points not having 10 people on the field,” he said. He added that “in those moments, the now is more important than the future.”
No. 5: Utah hogs ball after Buffs burn early timeouts, 2023
Utah won this game, 23-17, after getting the ball with 7:25 left in the game and then running out the rest of the clock. That’s half of a quarter with Utah just sitting on the ball and averaging 37 seconds per play on that last possession – 12 plays for 49 yards, including four first downs.
The game ended as time expired and Utah facing third-and-14. With better clock management, Colorado might have gotten another chance.
Obviously, it would have helped if the Buffs had stopped Utah on defense in the end to get the ball back. But Colorado also didn’t help itself in the third quarter, when the Buffs burned two of its three second-half timeouts in the first 10 minutes of the half, including one after their first play of the second half.
As a result, Colorado ended up with only one timeout at the end, which it used with 1:41 left.
Sanders said he burned that early timeout to avoid a 5-yard penalty related to player substitution.
“Burning a timeout to avoid a 5-yard penalty is a clock management mistake,” Reed said.
That’s because he said a timeout can enable a team to start as many as seven plays that each themselves can stop the clock, with each play taking about six seconds.
“I hate burning time outs in odd-numbered quarters and raise hell about them,” Reed said. ““They are best used late in the half.”
No. 6: Buffs use no timeouts in second half vs. Stanford, 2023
The Buffs led 29-0 at halftime and then watched as Stanford scored on every single possession in the second half to force overtime before winning, 46-43.
That’s poor defense and poor offense. But guess how many timeouts the Buffs used to stop the bleeding in the second half?
Zero.
All they needed was one stop. A strategic timeout or three could have helped kill Stanford’s momentum.
Colorado’s next game against Delaware kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on Fox.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com