Colorado led at halftime. The Buffaloes were up 24-23 on the road; their quarterback had completed 14 of 16 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns, and a win that would end a four-game skid looked reachable. Then the second half started with a fumble on the very first snap.

What followed was a 34-0 run by the other side. Oklahoma State won 57-24 on Oct. 24, and the postgame press conference that followed may have said more about the state of this program than the score did. The head coach didn’t dodge it, and what he said was blunt.

“Like we don’t shy away from that. Like we’re not stupid. Like we haven’t done our jobs. We got to win. That’s what we’re here for. We’re not here to make friends. And you know, although I love you, you’re a good man, I appreciate you, somebody else will be sitting here if I’m not. That’s how it’s going to be. You’re going to still be there. But we got to win. And I don’t shy away from that, man. That’s the truth,” head coach Deion Sanders said on Buffs TV hosted by the voice of the Buffs, Mark Johnson.

Sanders is saying plainly that his job depends on winning, and that the program will move on without him if it doesn’t. It lands against a backdrop that explains why. Colorado is now 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big 12, with five straight losses. Its last win came Sept. 12 against Weber State. The Buffs finished 3-9 last year, after the school agreed to a five-year, $54 million extension with him.

His comments about the locker room were just as direct. He said the problem isn’t physical.

“A lot of the stuff right now, it’s mental, psychological… We give them a lot of rest throughout the week. We don’t ask them to do a lot physically during the week. They lift, and they run, and they’re well conditioned, but we’re not banging and hurting them. So it’s mental, psychological, which is the same thing. Spiritual,” Sanders said.

He also admitted confusion about the discipline problem, as relayed by The Sun.

“We’re so disciplined in this and that, and every darn thing we do, but it seems like as soon as we go in the field, we’re not disciplined,” Sanders said. “But [when] we get on the field at the most critical moments, we blow it.”

The numbers back him up. Colorado committed 11 penalties for 84 yards and turned the ball over three times. Isaac Wilson lost a fumble on the first play of the third quarter and threw two interceptions, and freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne came in for the last two drives. The Buffs scored nothing after halftime and rushed for just 56 yards on 30 carries.

The quarterback position has been a story all year. Wilson finished 19 of 27 for 280 yards and two touchdowns, but the second half was a different game. Back on Oct. 3, after a loss to Texas Tech, Sanders called the quarterback position the team’s “one glaring problem.” On Saturday, the bigger problem looked like consistency across all four quarters, and that is what this loss confirmed.

Sanders praised Wilson’s first half: “Isaac played his butt off. He really did.” He then added, “But we didn’t have it” in the second.

Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns, and Caleb Hawkins ran for 120. The Cowboys finished with 598 total yards, did not turn the ball over, and scored on 11 of 13 possessions. Kicker Sam Keltner made five field goals, tying a school record. The Buffs also gave up a touchdown on the first series after blowing a coverage, which Sanders pointed out.

Reaction from outside the program has been sharp. Former NFL receiver Cris Carter said “all the cachet has run out,” adding that Colorado hasn’t been good defensively since Sanders arrived. Fans on social media urged him to step aside. Those are opinions, not reporting.

Sanders also had a back-and-forth with longtime CU journalist Brian Howell at his press conference over a book Howell wrote, which drew more criticism.

Kansas State visits Boulder on Oct. 31. Ball security, penalties, and a second-half response are the issues Sanders needs to fix, and his own words make clear how little time he has to do it.