Joel Klatt reacts to Deion Sanders' player cuts for 'laughing' after loss

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Joel Klatt has always supported the Colorado Buffaloes even when times are tough. The latest, with Deion Sanders cutting players from the team after three games, has the fan base split. But Klatt believes Coach Prime is doing this in the best interest of the Colorado program.

Sanders dubbed this as conduct detrimental to the team and the players were not immediately identified. However, the reality is, the Buffs are going into Big 12 play with another distraction. At 2-1, following a 41-7 loss to Northwestern, Colorado needs to have an upswing. The team went 3-9 under Sanders in 2025, ending the season on a five-game losing streak.

This feels like the program is at a crossroads again under Sanders once again. Since a 9-4 season in 2024, Colorado has truly fallen flat. The Buffs beat Georgia Tech by one point in a contest they very easily could have lost. Even Sanders was disappointed with Colorado's performance against FCS opponent Weber State. So what direction does Klatt believe the program is going in with Sanders in the midst of Year 4.

“I thought it was interesting. I look at the way the season went a year ago, and I think he is desperate to try to avoid what was kind of a clear collapse in the culture in the locker room of the team, it was a little bit stark,” Klatt said on The Herd this week.

“I don’t love it either because, now granted, there’s still a lot of the old school mentality in me of like ‘oh hey this is college football.’ But you are exactly right. There are guys that are making money and and you are obligated to behave a certain way and he talked about the term he uses like basically, behavior detrimental to the organization, the program."

Sanders had clearly established the standard that he wants to set in Boulder. This hasn't changed throughout the roster changes over four years. Colorado has flipped the roster multiple times with over 170 new players during the entire traditional recruiting cycle.

The performance was abysmal at Northwestern and nobody can argue with that. They did not play well and if this is the direction that Sanders wants to go, he has to stand on those decisions. But shouldn’t this be something that’s happening in Year 1 or 2? When does the bigger conversation about locking down a culture come into play?

Sanders and staff might be working together toward this for the first time. Keep in mind, he's working with a set of new coordinators who have less adequate experience compared to those who they replaced. But this is where making adjustments matters in the course of a season.

Colorado hits Big 12 play this weekend against Baylor. The third time the Buffs will be away from Boulder during the opening month of the 2026 season. This comes before back-to-back games against ranked opponents (Texas Tech, Utah). It's hard to say if the Baylor contest is considered a must-win game for Sanders, but there's a ton of pressure on him and his staff to spark a positive change.

Colorado vs. Baylor opponent history

Despite taking a 14-year hiatus due to Colorado leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-12 in 2011, the Buffs and Bear have played in every decade going back to the 1950s. They faced each other as opponents in a bowl game as well.

Baylor defeated Colorado 21-9 in the 1986 Bluebonnet Bowl. The matchup in Houston 40 years ago was the only time they met in the 1980s. Colorado legend Bill McCartney's second postseason appearance of his career, and four years before, the Buffs won a national championship with a 10-9 win over Notre Dame in the 1991 Orange Bowl.

Colorado leads the series 10-7 and have only played once as current Big 12 opponents.