For Colorado, Tennessee Shilo Sanders’ Dance Overshadows Struggles in Alamo Bowl Loss to BYU
The Colorado Buffaloes, who debuted Mike McCarth earlier this year, lost 36-14 to BYU in the Alamo Bowl Saturday night. Despite the lopsided scoreboard, one player managed to capture attention for reasons that had little to do with football: Shilo Sanders.
On paper, the eighth tackles for Shilo, the sixth-year senior who is the son of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, are respectable. But his decision to carry his flair and theatrics to what ended being what was his final collegiate game dominated his performance on the field.
The controversy got off to a second quarter start as Colorado trailed 17-0. When Shilo broke into his father’s “Deion Shuffle” after a tackle along the sideline. The problem? His celebration was awkward, misplaced, blown off the field, and negated by a penalty. Shilo was flagged moments later for an obvious pass interference call when he tackled a BYU receiver. He didn’t know about the penalty and made one more celebration, reinforcing what many saw as poor sportsmanship.
Sure, sports are a great way to celebrate, but timing is everything. Dancing when your team is down by three scores, even in a high stakes game, sends the wrong message. Some applauded Shilo for trying to live in the moment while others took offense to him ignoring his team’s dire situation.
It’s not the first time Shilo has courted controversy for his on field antics. Earlier in the season, Deion Sanders openly blasted his son’s ‘horrible’ play in a loss to Kansas State. Deion’s Alamo Bowl emotion rung true for him as he capped the coaching of his sons Shedeur and Shilo on the top step of the stadium, but it’s safe to assume he wasn’t pleased that Shilo had carried out chants Saturday.
The drama is compounded by BYU fans complaining about the perceived bias ABC broadcasters showed for Colorado. Complaints poured into social media that commentators Dave Pasch and Dusty Dvoracek spent too much time focusing on Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, especially with the Cougars dominating.
In the end, it was Shilo’s on field theatrics that was the buzz in a game that was all but over once BYU took control. Shilo’s timing and execution were very off, and while it’s understandable for a player to want to savor his final game, it’s more than enough that we haven’t yet seen his bestcrop. Disgusting would have been to dance in the face of defeat and not concentrate on closing his collegiate career out with discipline and determination.
