Colorado escaped Atlanta with a 14-13 win over Georgia Tech on Thursday night, the kind of chaotic finish that has become a signature of the Deion Sanders era. Julian Lewis found Charlie Williams for a go-ahead touchdown with 42 seconds left, and Boo Carter blocked a potential game-winning field goal on the final play to seal it.
But between those two moments, one specific breakdown gave the loudest voices in the sport something new to talk about. Not the final score, but the decision behind it.
Sanders entered the season without a designated special teams coordinator, spreading those duties across his assistant coaches instead of hiring one voice to own them. It took less than one quarter for that decision to show up in the box score.
Could the Decision Backfire?
The play in question came right after Colorado grabbed a 7-0 lead. Running back Micah Welch punched in a five-yard touchdown to open the scoring, and on the ensuing kickoff, Georgia Tech’s Rahkeem Smith caught it in his own end zone and ran the length of the field untouched. It was Georgia Tech’s only touchdown of the night, and it tied the game before Colorado’s offense had even made it back to the sideline.
Fresh off that clip, a football influencer connected the dots that plenty of fans were already drawing on their own.
“It took 1 play for this new Deion Sanders experiment to absolutely fail.”
The reel picked up traction fast, and it found its way into a comment section nobody expected: Deion Sanders Jr.’s.
Prime’s own son didn’t argue the point. He responded with a string of laughing emojis, less a defense of his father’s call than the reaction of someone who has watched enough Colorado football to know exactly which plays are going to draw that kind of heat.
Why Prime Did Not Hire a Special Teams Coordinator
The decision wasn’t made in secret. Sanders announced it back in the spring, after parting ways with 2025 special teams coordinator Michael Pollock following a season that saw Colorado finish 109th nationally in net punting and allow four blocked kicks.
When a reporter framed the offseason as Colorado bringing in three new coordinators, Sanders corrected him on the spot.
“We got three new coordinators?” Sanders said. “We don’t have a special teams coordinator.”
Instead of replacing Pollock with one name, Sanders spread those responsibilities across his staff, leaning most heavily on new tight ends coach Josh Niblett. It wasn’t the first time Colorado had operated that way. The Buffaloes went without a dedicated special teams coordinator in 2023 and again in 2024, the same season they finished 9-4 and reached the Alamo Bowl. That track record is exactly what Sanders was leaning on when he made the call.
After the win over Georgia Tech, he didn’t pretend the coverage breakdown hadn’t happened, but he wasn’t ready to call the experiment a failure either.
“Just how it all played out in the end. I mean, a couple special team blunders, but then we come out strong on special teams to make it happen,” Sanders said. “So, it don’t wash it. We still are not satisfied with that. But I’m happy overall with the victory.”
Colorado’s own coverage unit had the last word anyway, blocking Georgia Tech’s potential game-winning kick to send the Buffaloes home 1-0. One decision, two wildly different plays, and a debate about who’s actually running Colorado’s special teams that isn’t going anywhere as long as Sanders keeps winning without a clear answer for it.