BOULDER — A minute before midnight, as he walked away from another postgame press conference following a loss, Deion Sanders crumbled up the stat sheet and sighed.

Coach Prime really had one consistent message after Colorado’s 24-21 loss to No. 25 BYU on Saturday night at Folsom Field.

“We had opportunities, a tremendous amount of opportunities, but nevertheless, we didn’t cash in on them,” Sanders said.

“We got to do better as a staff, as a team, and I’ve got to do better,” he added later.

Another familiar line?

“We just didn’t make it happen.”

Well, the ‘could’ve, would’ve, should’ve’ Buffaloes are now 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12 after blowing an early 14-0 lead, which featured 17 unanswered points allowed and just one offensive scoring drive in the final 45 minutes of the game.

Quarterback Kaidon Salter came out hot, leading CU to back-to-back touchdown drives sandwiched around a turnover on downs forced by the Buffs defense. Through one quarter, the Alamo Bowl rematch was looking nothing like the previous meeting in San Antonio at the end of 2024. 

But the rest of the way? It felt all too familiar as the Cougars used a physical running game to control the tempo — winning the time of possession battle nearly 2 to 1 in the second half — and with a quarterback that didn’t put the ball in harm’s way.

“The young quarterback (Bear Bachmeier) is phenomenal,” Sanders said of BYU’s true freshman under center. “Proud of him. He did what he had to do to win the game. He made the plays that he was supposed to make to win the game.”

On the flip side, Salter didn’t.

He was just 8-for-13 for 80 yards, one touchdown, and one interception after the first quarter. He also took a couple of brutal, game-altering sacks while his freshman counterpart seemed to make something out of nothing on multiple occasions.

“There are a few plays out there that I left behind that I really wish I had back,” the veteran Buffs quarterback admitted.

But the play that will haunt CU the most was not Salter’s game-ending interception with the team trailing by just a field goal in the final minute. It was actually a play on the other side of the ball.

It was late in the third quarter, and BYU had the ball back after the Buffs answered to re-take the lead on a touchdown pass from Salter to Dre’lon Miller. The Cougars were facing a third-and-17 from their own 35-yard line. It was a chance for the CU defense to fully grab hold of the momentum with over 50,000 people inside Folsom Field as loud as they were all night.

Instead, Bachmeier escaped the pressure in the pocket, and the Buffs had no one there waiting to bring him down as the BYU quarterback scrambled for 16 yards and gave his team a chance to convert on a fourth-and-1, which they did. Three plays later, the Cougars scored the game-winning touchdown.

“That play is killing me right now,” safety Tawfiq Byard said postgame. We have to get to the ball. We have to run to the ball. We have to stare in our gaps and we have to go get the quarterback.”

That was just one of several of those “missed opportunities” Sanders couldn’t stop mentioning. But it’s not like he was exactly surprised, either.

“Everything I saw today, I saw at practice, and that’s where it starts,” Coach Prime said. “I pray that these young men understand that practice is a prerequisite. That’s your preparation for how you’re going to perform. Rarely have I seen men at all levels practice poorly and still dominate in the game. I haven’t seen that it wasn’t my recipe for success. We’ve got to practice better.”