Colorado football faces another controversy — will anything actually be done this time?

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This past Saturday’s loss to No. 11 Texas Tech might not have been the biggest story affecting Colorado football. The Texas Tech game was bad, make no mistake about it. For the better part of three quarters, Colorado led that game. Then with about seven minutes left, it all fell apart. Colorado eventually lost that game 29-7, including 26 unanswered points in the second half.

The biggest, or at least the most viral story coming out of the program involved something before the game. Reported several hours before the game, someone found a playbook or game plan at the hotel bar of the hotel the team stays at the night before a home game. While this isn’t the first time in sports that has happened, it is alarming.

Initially, plays as designed were leaked on social media, drawing some concern to the validity. Eventually, the game ended and shortly thereafter, the internet did what it does. Videos began to circulate showing the play on paper and the corresponding video from the game showing Colorado running that play.

Something about the leaked playbook doesn’t add up. Yes, it’s the correct hotel. Yes, that hotel has a bar. Yes, the players and coaches were in that hotel on the night in question. However, there are plenty of versions of the question “how” that remain unanswered. It also puts into question why Texas Tech seemed to play very uncharacteristically against Colorado, especially early. The game played out like Ivan Drago vs Apollo Creed. Lots of dancing and very few blows, until someone signaled Drago, and he ended the fight shortly thereafter.

Unsportsmanlike behavior after the final whistle

The Buffaloes under Coach Prime have faced a few situations like this before. One is a data breach that could have led to direct cheating and the other is a player behavior situation. In both cases, the head coach’s default position was always to sweep it under the rug.

The lesser of the two issues occurred after the conclusion of a game against Arizona State. Colorado won that game by three after killing the clock late in the game. The game ended. The referee waved his arms signaling the game had ended. About 90 seconds after that, a Colorado edge rusher was talking to players on the field and bent down to pick up the game ball. The coach, who was not Kenny Dillingham and Cam Skattebo, was not willing to let it go.

Skattebo comes to the sideline and gets screamed at by the coach. Skattebo raises his arms as if to say, 'What do you want me to do about it now'? The coach gets even more in his face. A moment later, Skattebo identifies the CU player and runs at him at almost top speed to essentially spear tackle him. It was blatant, it was obvious, and it went semi-viral on social media spaces. When asked about it, Sanders dismissed it as if the reporter was mistaken.

Oregon plays for wins while Colorado plays for clicks

It was a questionable tactic when Oregon head coach Dan Lanning brought cameras into his locker room, which he’s never done before or since, to deliver his viral pregame speech. He claimed Colorado plays for social media attention while they are here to win.

It was a simple tactic. Coach Sanders doesn’t run his program like Oregon. They have cameras everywhere. However, Lanning having cameras in the locker room for that one game was a direct shot at Sanders. However, that is not an unsportsmanlike transgression. It was Bush league, it was petty and hopefully regrettable, but that wasn’t the issue.

It was 2023 and Colorado had just had the biggest draw of any program in recent memory. The first three games of that season were must-see TV. Then they played a Caleb Williams-led USC team. The Buffs were in that game most of the way until USC pulled away late. The next game destroyed any momentum of positive projections moving forward.

Suspected data breach of Colorado practice footage

Oregon beat Colorado in their fifth game of the season 42-6. While Oregon was a title contender and Colorado was not, it was more than a whipping. That game was ‘close’ for exactly six minutes. Fourteen points in the first 13 minutes. 35-0 by halftime. Colorado did not score until 2:51 left in the game.

Very few outside the Colorado and/or Coach Prime faithful believed the Buffs had a shot of beating Oregon. An Oregon team that had Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix, Tampa Bay Bucs RB Bucky Irving and New York Jets TE Kenyon Sadiq. However, I was curious about how surgical Oregon was. Much more than anticipated. Whether it seemed suspect or not, it would take a turn.

According to Front Office Sports, Deion Sanders himself contacted the Pac-12 conference to alert them to a data breach that affects the Catapult video replay system. Asserting the source of the breach could be tracked back to the Oregon athletic department with very curious timing. Catapult stores practice footage for players to review. The Pac-12 took the accusation seriously. They were even willing to consider an FBI investigation if such a breach could be confirmed.

Shortly after the FOS report, Sanders all but dropped the issue. His silence and unwillingness to discuss it on any level, came off like possibly coercion from somewhere. If a program utilizes technology to gain an unfair advantage, like viewing the opponent’s practice footage, that is a concern that should have been investigated. Even if Oregon would eventually be exonerated. Even the threat of such a data breach would have put Oregon in the Belichick Patriots Spygate territory.

As big as Coach Prime may be, as unapologetic as he likes to convey himself to be, there is a track record of letting things go that he shouldn't. There is a reason the Colorado game plan was found and leaked online. Something should be done about that. If history tells us anything regarding possible unfair advantages or poor sportsmanlike behavior, Colorado will not plan to do anything about it.