Colorado football coach Deion Sanders made a curious decision early in the fourth quarter Saturday night with his team down by only four points against Arizona State.
He called on a redshirt sophomore named Ronald Coleman, who had never carried the ball before in a college game.
Sanders liked what Coleman had shown him in practices. So he put him in the game and then saw him rip loose for a 14-yard gain on his first carry before he inexplicably dropped the ball without even being touched. Sanders blamed himself for the lost fumble, which proved to be the turning point in a 42-17 loss at home for Colorado.
“The gentleman who fumbled, that’s on me,” Sanders said afterward. “I put him in the game to try to have a change of pace. I figured he was gonna hit it, and he hit it. And he fumbled. It is what it is.”
Before the fumble, the Buffaloes trailed 21-17 with about 14 minutes left. They were driving inside the Arizona State 20-yard line.
