On Saturday, Deion Sanders and Morgan Scalley will meet for the first time since Scalley was named Utah’s head coach, but the NFL Hall-of-Famer-turned-coach is very familiar with the former Ute defensive coordinator.
Sanders’ Buffaloes have faced off against the Utes three times since he took over at Colorado in 2023, with Utah winning two of those matchups, including a 53-7 shellacking last year that was the low point of the Sanders era.
“I said, ‘Isaac, make sure you throw the ball to the guys on our team.’ See, we could joke like that because Isaac is one of those kids that. .. Isaac is Isaac, man. He ain’t taking that to the heart. He’s not going to cry and have a pity party because that’s the balance of our relationship.”
— Colorado coach Deion Sanders on former Ute QB Isaac Wilson
In 2024, though, Colorado, led by quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way player Travis Hunter, found success against Scalley’s defense in a 49-24 win.
In his weekly press conference Tuesday, Sanders gave props to Scalley for what he’s done since taking over the program from Kyle Whittingham.
“Coach Scalley, first year in head coaching, replacing a legend in Coach Whittingham,” Sanders said. “… He was a dog when he played. He’s a unbelievable coordinator. Now he’s a tremendous head coach. Utmost respect, utmost respect for (his) beautiful wife and three children. He’s replacing a legend, man. That’s not easy. And he hadn’t missed a beat.”
Sanders’ and Scalley’s teams, each going opposite directions near the midpoint of the season, will meet in Boulder for a late-night contest (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN).
Utah is off to a 5-0 start and has defeated each of its opponents by at least 14 points. The Utes boast the nation’s No. 9 offense and No. 18 defense, while Colorado has the nation’s No. 71 offense and No. 61 defense.
After starting the season 2-0, including a season-opening victory at Georgia Tech, the Buffaloes have lost three straight. Sanders cut three players for “conduct detrimental to the team” after a 41-7 loss to Northwestern, and five-star quarterback Julian Lewis was benched during Colorado’s Sept. 26 loss to Baylor, clearing the way for former Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson to start.
In his first full game as starting quarterback, a 29-7 loss to Texas Tech, Wilson threw for 290 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 42 yards, but threw three interceptions, including a pick-six in his own end zone.
“Isaac is just tough. His demeanor is … Isaac throw a few picks, he’s still going. He’s not getting down on himself. He’s a fighter. He’s tough,” Sanders said.
The Buffaloes will continue to roll with Wilson. Sanders said the Corner Canyon High product will start against his former team, joking that Wilson needs to throw the ball to the players in black, not white.
“I said, ‘Isaac, make sure you throw the ball to the guys on our team.’ See, we could joke like that because Isaac is one of those kids that. … Isaac is Isaac, man. He ain’t taking that to the heart. He’s not going to cry and have a pity party because that’s the balance of our relationship,” Sanders said.
“We could get down like that. And then when he does something, ‘Yeah, what you got to say now?’ That’s how Isaac gets down with me,” he continued. “‘Well, what do you got to say about that coach? What you got to say?’ So that’s how he is. So I could go at him like that a little bit.”
Sanders is preparing his squad for what he says is “probably the toughest team we’re going to face this season.”
“Going to be a daunting task offensively there. They get after it defensively, they get after it, they really feed off because they’re scoring points offensively. So the defense pinning their ears back, they’re going at you,” Sanders said. “They blitzing, they coming from north, south, east and west and they’re really a darn good football team. Probably the best team we’re going to face this season.”
Though the Utes allowed 333 passing yards against usually run-heavy Kansas, Colorado’s game plan is not going to be throwing the ball 37 times like Jayhawk quarterback Isaiah Marshall did.
Instead, the Buffaloes will focus on the ground game, led by running back Micah Welch, JaQuail Smith and Damian Henderson II. Colorado rushed for at least 180 yards in its first three games, but weren’t able to find the same success against Baylor and Texas Tech, rushing for just 83 and 78 yards, respectively.
Utah has had success bottling up the run game so far and ranks No. 9 in the country in rushing defense.
“We don’t want to throw the ball 40 something times. We want to keep the ball in between 17 and 24 pass attempts, but it dictates on how the game is flowing,” Sanders said. “But we don’t want to get into that because we’re not great when we’re throwing the ball that much.
“I don’t know if too many teams are. We could run the ball. We’ve proven that. We got to rely on that. Our linemen, they’ve taken on that responsibility to work their butts off this week so they could get back to that first and second week type of running attack that we featured as well as the third week as well.”
On defense, the Buffaloes will have their hands full with Kevin McGiven’s offense, including Utah’s two-quarterback system with Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin, but Sanders feels like his Colorado team will be up for the challenge.
“Dual quarterbacks, they do some things that create problems and everybody on the defense, you don’t know when it’s going to be on you,” Sanders said, “So even if you’re backside and that play’s going away, you have no idea if they’re going to stop, drop back and let it fly.
“These guys are good. They’re really good. Schematically, they’re good. We feel like we’re up to the challenge and up to the task and these guys are prepared. I like the guys I have in the locker room. I really do.”
