BOULDER — Deion Sanders is turning to the best for advice.

Coach Prime’s third Colorado team is off to the worst start of his tenure. Entering Saturday night’s showdown against Wyoming (8:15 p.m. ESPN), the Buffaloes are 1-2.

By the time Ralphie VII makes her debut and leads the team out onto the field on what looks to be a gorgeous end-of-summer night at Folsom Field, CU will have had eight days to think about everything that went wrong in last Friday night’s Big 12 opener at Houston. 

Sanders already has his message for his group: ‘Why not us?’

It came from what Sanders heard Clemson coach Dabo Swinney say after his team’s loss to Georgia Tech last Saturday. The Tigers are 1-2, just like the Buffs and Swinney, one of just three active college coaches with a national championship, told his Tigers team that the last time they were in this spot (2014), they went on to finish with 10 wins. 

Coach Prime believes his team can do the same.

“Dabo Swinney is one of my favorites. I love him to life. I love the man he is, the coach he is. Just a great guy. Just a guy that I could look up to in this coaching realm,” Sanders said this week. “They’ve been sitting here before, sitting here (at) 1-2, and they turned it all around. I think they went 10-2 that season. 

“Why not us? Why can’t we turn it around? Why can’t we correct the wrongs with the rights and display consistency because we have the talents in-house. We’ve just gotta put it to use and do what we’re capable of doing.”

The Buffs have had the right approach all week.

It started when the Buffs got back on the practice field for the first time following the 36-20 loss in Houston. It’s usually a day where the regular starters get the day off and those who didn’t see the majority of the snaps get more work in than usual. But this time around, all 11 defensive starters came out in full pads. The offense followed suit with nearly all 11 starters.

“We didn’t feel like we played well, we gotta work,” Sanders said the players told him.

“When you win, you can kinda have an off day,” junior tight end Zach Atkins added. “But we didn’t, so it’s right back to work. I think that’s the whole mentality of the team right now. We’re not getting it done, so we just gotta work extra hard.”

Even after a performance where both the offense and defense played well below expectations, CU feels like a breakthrough is close.

“I don’t think we’re in a car just running aimlessly the wrong way,” Coach Prime said. “I feel like we could be better and we are better, we’ve just had a hiccup here and a hiccup there that has disarmed us in its totality. It’s no excuse for what transpired last week.”

That message has particularly resonated with an offense that is still figuring out what it is. With Shedeur Sanders at quarterback and multiple future NFL wide receivers, the offensive identity was not hard to come by the past two seasons. But no quarterback has solidified himself through three weeks, and although three have played, veteran Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter is poised to make his third start of the season.

“We gotta find our identity as an offense, who we are as an offense,” tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Brett Bartolone said. “Us coaches have to find that, and we have to get that out of our players. We’ve gotta solidify the quarterback position and make sure he’s comfortable and do things that maximize his skill sets. Once we find that (identity) — and I feel like we’re truly on track in doing that — then we’re gonna be in a much better place.”

It’s not so far away that the coaches can’t see the improvement, either.

“I do think we’re close. I think we just gotta let loose and play, and I think that starts in practice,” Bartolone said. “We gotta practice the right way, we gotta prepare the right way. We gotta execute. We can’t just execute during the week, we gotta execute when the lights are on. We also gotta be able to respond. If something negatively occurs and something doesn’t happen our way, we gotta be able to respond to adversity, smile in its face, and play the next play. That’s where we struggle right now.”

It’s not in his nature not to, but the man in charge is a believer, too.

“Maybe Saturday, maybe a couple games after that, but we’re gonna get there with the consistency we desire,” Sanders said. “I can see it.”