Colorado had just been embarrassed 41-7, and Deion Sanders’ immediate response was to put everything under a microscope and remove several players. Sanders later admitted these behavioral problems had been building for some time and even pointed back to Colorado’s 3-9 season in 2025, when he felt he had let similar issues linger. That naturally raises the question Joel Klatt is asking: if Sanders already knew where unchecked locker-room problems could lead, why were they still serious enough to require a purge in Year 4?
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“There are guys that are making money, and you are obligated to behave a certain way,” Klatt said. Klatt further said, “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.” He then added, “My question though, is shouldn’t this be something that’s happening in year one or two… after four years, in my mind, I’m like, well, haven’t you built the culture that should be superseding what you’re trying to nip in the bud?”
“It’s a few guys that are not on the team anymore. Just so you know,” Sanders said.
Sanders said the dismissals were about “conduct detrimental to the team,” not one isolated incident. “It’s never one thing. Those guys will tell you: I’m the most loving, giving and forgiving man you can ever meet. But when you start being conduct detrimental to the team that will set us back in things that you’re doing, you don’t care about the team. You care about you. I have a problem with that,” he said.
The Northwestern game gave him plenty to dissect. Colorado turned the ball over four times, failed on three fourth downs and committed nine penalties for 80 yards. Sanders also said he saw some players laughing as they walked toward the locker room afterward. He later said he was “changing a few things” and demanding more from both players and coaches.
The results under Sanders have already swung sharply. Colorado went 4-8 in his first season in 2023, jumped to 9-4 in 2024, then crashed back to 3-9 in 2025.
That makes one of Sanders’ old quotes stand out even more. During his 2023 roster overhaul, he said, “I don’t care about culture. I don’t care. I don’t care if they like each other, man. I want to win.” Now, in Year 4, culture has become one of the main reasons he is removing players.
But Sanders did not treat every mistake the same way this week. Finneseth was among a group of Colorado players caught on video disparaging Northwestern’s temporary stadium before the game, including comments that it “sounds like a [expletive] library.”
“I just want to apologize… first of all to you guys, to everyone that’s tied in with the university, to everyone at Northwestern, to everyone that supports us, to my teammates and my coaches,” Finneseth said. “It was childish. It was a stupid thing that I said. It won’t happen again. And the way I… handled it was horrible. And I promise you guys that it will not happen again, and it will be much more mature moving forward. So I apologize.”
Sanders accepted it immediately: “That’s why I love you.”
Finneseth got the chance to own his mistake and move on. The unnamed players, according to Sanders, had crossed into repeated behavior he was no longer willing to tolerate. Now that he has drawn that line, Colorado has to show it actually changes something.
The Buffaloes open Big 12 play at Baylor, with ranked Texas Tech and Utah coming next. A loss in Waco would drop Colorado to 2-2 and make that upcoming stretch even more unforgiving. Sanders has already made his move inside the locker room. If the results do not change, the questions will turn back to him.