Deion Sanders defended some controversial clock management at the end of Colorado’s 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech. The Buffaloes had 1:07 on the clock for their final drive but could not get past midfield as time expired on the possession. Sanders didn’t utilize timeouts despite having them at his disposal. But he referenced incompletions and […]
Deion Sanders defended some controversial clock management at the end of Colorado’s 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech. The Buffaloes had 1:07 on the clock for their final drive but could not get past midfield as time expired on the possession.
Sanders didn’t utilize timeouts despite having them at his disposal. But he referenced incompletions and getting out of bounds as reason why he didn’t take them on the drive.
On the first play, Kaidon Salter completed a short pass, but it ended up being a two-yard loss, and by the time the second play got off, the clock was already down to 51 seconds. Safe to say, time was wasted in this case.
“I think we got out of bounds a couple times, so we didn’t have to take them,” Sanders said. “That’s what transpired, we got out of bounds, I think, on both sidelines … We caught the ball, I think, for nine yards. We got one yard to go. So if you get the first down, the clock stops, so it don’t make sense to really use your time out in that sense.
“So we were just really trying to preserve them til we certainly needed them. So, I mean, I don’t want to go home with timeouts. They don’t do me no good. But you got to be strategic. as well just burning timeouts just to burn them just so you guys won’t say nothing, that don’t make sense at all. But I think we got out of bounds a couple times … and we had incompletions.”
Salter found Hykeem Williams for 11 yards on the next play, creating a 3rd-and-1 from the Colorado 34-yard line. Since the Buffs didn’t get a first down, the clock was not stopped temporarily and Sanders didn’t want to waste a timeout.
Salter was forced to scramble and eventually got the first down but took time off the clock, moving it from 30-plus seconds while running to 18 seconds. On the next play, Salter took a shot to the end zone and nearly hit Dre’lon Miller on a heave of a throw, but overshot him.
However, even with the incompletion, the offense took 10 seconds off the clock.
Sanders mentioned they saved a timeout by getting out of bounds, which happened on the next play. But the final play, with three seconds left, was snapped at the 50 yard line and Salter was forced to throw a Hail Mary, which fell incomplete.
Sanders knows the clock management could be better in that situation. But, Colorado is going to need to take advantage of other opportunities, such as capitalizing on three forced turnovers.
Colorado is back in action Saturday at home against Delaware. It’s set for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
Category: General Sports
