There was certainly a scenario Saturday night where Colorado would’ve needed to navigate the final 20 minutes of its upset loss to Kansas without star quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, the son of Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders and a projected top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, shoved referee Kevin Mar after taking a sack on third down with Colorado trailing by nine in the third quarter, and he was “lucky” that didn’t result in an ejection, Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira said on the broadcast.
“There’s no question that he does,” Pereira said when asked about Sanders shoving Mar. “Look, I get why he’s upset because people are almost climbing over him after he was down, but, you know, the officials can use their hands all they want to try to keep order. But you cannot come back as a player and push an official.
“In the chaos, the officials don’t see it, but he’s lucky that he wasn’t ejected from the game.”
After the sack, Sanders approached Mar from behind — who was surrounded by a cluster of players — and shoved the longtime official with his right arm.
By that point, three other referees had moved closer to the scuffle and attempted to separate the players and Sanders while protecting Mar.
Sanders, who finished 23 of 29 for 266 yards and three touchdowns during No. 16 Colorado’s 37-21 loss, wasn’t penalized on the play, but his frustrations had started to boil over.
The game featured plenty of physical hits, with Colorado’s College Football Playoff hopes at stake and Kansas attempting to claw its way toward becoming bowl eligible.
At one point in the first half, defensive end Dean Miller lowered his head and flung himself toward Sanders’ knees while he attempted a pass.
“I mean, I just don’t know how that’s legal overall,” Sanders told reporters after the game when asked about Miller’s hit. “I ain’t understand that, but, you know, it is what it is. There was a couple plays like that.”
The Buffaloes trailed 17-0 at one point but managed to trim its deficit to two points early in the third quarter, when Travis Hunter — also projected as a top pick in the upcoming NFL draft — and Sanders connected on a touchdown pass.
But Devin Neal accounted for the final two touchdowns, providing the Jayhawks with some cushion and ensuring Colorado was on its way to ending the night in a four-way tie atop the Big 12 standings.
Deion said after the game that Colorado had become “intoxicated with the success.”
“We started smelling ourselves a little bit,” Deion said, according to ESPN. “… We got intoxicated with the multitude of articles and the assumption that we’re this and the assumption that we’re that. And we did not play CU football. Therefore, we got our butts kicked. It is what it is.”