A quiet Deion Sanders apologized in the middle of a response during his news conference in Pullman, Wash., on Friday night.
“I’m sorry, my head is throbbing right now,” said Sanders, who had plenty of reasons to ache.
The Colorado head football coach had just watched a team that started the season with so many highs tumble to new lows with a 56-14 destruction against Washington State.
His son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, left the game in the first half with multiple injuries and did not return.
Deion himself appeared to be coaching through the pain, coughing through answers and saying he was under the weather.
“This is the toughest stretch of probably my life,” Sanders told reporters after Colorado (4-7) officially became ineligible for bowl games.
The sensation that Sanders and Colorado became in stunning TCU and blowing out Nebraska has given way to a humbling.
The Buffaloes have lost five straight — much to the delight of some fans who don’t love the brash Sanders — and will finish up Sanders’ first season with the school next week at Utah.
It is unclear if Shedeur will be leading the team for the game.
Sanders’ son left Friday’s game in the second quarter after going 6-for-10 for 86 yards and a touchdown.
“Had numbness in his hand,” Deion Sanders told reporters. “He got hit in the forearm, and he couldn’t really grip the ball. He couldn’t really feel the ball. Then the second time he got injured was, I think, we had an errant snap and I think they rolled up his ankle and that was it.
“Couldn’t grip the ball and his ankle, so that took him out of the game, and the rest is history.”
Colorado trailed 42-7 at halftime. Team Sanders was out-gained, 447-255.
Deion stared at the statsheet after the game and sadly shook his head.
“Unbelievable,” Sanders said.
Sanders did not blame the illness that has apparently been going through the locker room.
As his roller-coaster ride of a first season winds down, he found a silver lining.
“[The loss is] not indicative of who we are, what are, how we are,” Sanders said. “I’ve been boasting since the beginning of the season: I have not seen us quit.”
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