Ever since he took the reins in Boulder, Deion Sanders has never shied away from doing things his own way, especially when it comes to his display of faith. But as the Colorado Buffaloes’ promising 2026 campaign took a nosedive, Jason Whitlock aimed at Coach Prime. And this time, the former sports columnist slammed Sanders for a bizarre correlation between a postgame presser and Colorado’s three-game losing streak.
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It was when Sanders spoke in tongues in the presser right after Colorado secured a 52-21 win over Weber State on September 12, 2026. Before that, in the Week 1 opener against Georgia Tech, the Buffaloes secured a 14-13 win. However, things began to fall apart after Sanders spoke in tongues. They lost to the Northwestern Wildcats (41-7) and then to the Baylor Bears (23-13). In the last game against Texas Tech, Colorado lost by 29-7. Of course, Whitlock had to weigh in.
“You don’t get to play with God. Not forever,” Whitlock said on episode 1253 of Fearless. “And Deion’s playing with God. And so, do y’all remember, three, four weeks ago, when they beat up on Weber State… and Deion comes into the press conference and pretends to speak in tongues. Add up the scores of every game since then. They’ve gotten the break speed off of them in every game since then. That’s 93 to 27 since Deion spoke in tongues, allegedly.
“This guy has been playing with God his whole life. You can’t promote radical materialism; you can’t do a song, ‘Must be the money.’ You can’t do that and never repent from it. Never say like, ‘Hey, that was just a mistake. I’m promoting the worship of money. I shouldn’t have done that even when I was younger.’ You can’t run around in shirts with dollar signs, promoting the worship of money. You can’t raise kids that promote the worship of money, and deck themselves out in gold chains everywhere.”
He further claimed that the “Deion Sanders train wreck was inevitable” right from the beginning.
This is certainly not the first time Whitlock took shots at Sanders for his faith. In late September, Whitlock responded to an X post about him disliking Sanders’ expression of Christianity, and claimed that he doesn’t believe that “Deion “expresses” Christianity.”
He clarified that he dislikes Sanders because the coach indulges in the promotion and normalization of radical materialism and arrogance for young men. According to Whitlock, humility, not confidence, leads to long, healthy, and sustainable success.
It’s worth noting that Sanders has openly talked about his faith throughout his coaching career at Colorado. But this time, praying in tongues raised a few more eyebrows than before. And he had to clear the air around it.
“I had just come from addressing the team, and I lit them up, so I had to calm down,” Sanders justified his praying in his weekly news conference on September 15, 2026. “And the only way I know how to calm down is to pray in the spirit. So, you know, it’s not a gimmick. There’s not a ‘look at me.’ No. No. That’s real.
“That’s what I do. And I’ve done that everywhere I’ve been. And we’ve got evidence. So there’s no game. There’s no gimmick. I love the Lord with all my heart, and I’m not scared to speak it in front of anybody, anywhere, at any time. But it’s not a planned type of thing.”
Whitlock, who frequently integrates Christian faith, biblical principles, and his Christian upbringing into his commentary, connected Colorado’s sudden 93-27 point deficit to Sanders’ controversial postgame prayer. However, given Sanders’ track record of drowning out his critics, it’s unlikely that this latest wave of backlash will force the Hall of Famer to change his ways.