Deion Sanders refuses to blame NIL money, resources for Colorado losses

At Big 12 Media Days in July, Deion Sanders predicted a commonality among top teams in college football. He said teams that spent the most in NIL money will likely be toward the top at the end of the year, which is why he called for “equality.”

After a couple close losses, though, Coach Prime made it clear he’s not blaming the resources and investment he’s getting at Colorado. Quite simply, he said the Buffs “just didn’t get it done.”

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

Outside of a 36-20 loss to Houston in Week 3, Colorado’s losses to Georgia Tech and BYU have come by a combined 10 points – seven against the Yellow Jackets in Week 1 and three against the Cougars last week. Given the close nature of the games, Sanders said he’s not putting any blame on money.

“We can’t blame it on the money. … We can’t blame it on that,” Sanders said Tuesday. “We’ve played good football except for one darn game. Houston, we were horrible. We didn’t play well. The other two games, we had an opportunity to win those games, to win those games against ranked opponents. We just didn’t get it done.

“We had opportunities. Ten points, two ranked opponents, that game was decided. Both those games.”

Deion Sanders: We can’t cry, ‘We don’t have the money’

Deion Sanders then called back to his remarks at Big 12 Media Day. At the time, argued for “equality” in the new era of college football with revenue-sharing now part of the landscape. He specifically called for a set amount of money schools can offer players to help level the playing field.

But as he looked ahead to the rest of the season, Sanders predicted top teams will continue to be the ones who spend the most. While other coaches are doing more with fewer resources, he’s not ready to blame Colorado’s investment for the sub-.500 record.

“We can’t cry, ‘We don’t have the money,'” Sanders said. “It’s not that. It’s just at the conclusion of the season, when you look back on things, when you look over your shoulder, you’re gonna see what we said in that media days: some of the top teams are going to be there and this is the commonality that they share. But there’s some great coaches out there coaching way above that. And prayerfully, that don’t catch up with them.

“But I’m happy. I’m thankful. I’m not gonna cry broke just because we dropped – money had nothing to do with those two games that we dropped.”