Colorado screws up its overtime strategy for second time this season

The Colorado Buffaloes blew a 29-0 halftime lead on Friday night and ultimately fell to the Stanford Cardinal, 46-43, in double overtime. The collapse was the worst in Colorado history, highlighted by another Deion Sanders mistake.

The Buffaloes won the overtime coin toss and for the second time this season, elected to go on offense first, which flies in the face of traditional game theory. That allowed Stanford to start on defense in both the first overtime and second overtime, giving them the distinct advantage of knowing exactly what they needed on each of their two offensive series.

Sanders had made the same blunder earlier this season but lucked out that time around, surviving a game against Colorado State.

This time was different however, Colorado paid the price for the coaching error in the form of a soul-crushing loss to a team that had just one win entering the game. It was also the third loss in four weeks for Sanders’ young squad.

“We have no choice but to go forward. That’s life,” Sanders said after the game, via ESPN. “We didn’t expect that. … We can’t sit down and have no pity party.”

Sanders did not directly address his decision to treat college overtime like he would an NFL overtime.