"If you can't stop run, you're dead in the water": Former NFL star minces no words about Deion Sanders' big fumble against BYU in Week 5

Colorado coach Deion Sanders could not lead the Buffs past BYU as they lost 24-21 to the No. 23 Cougars in Week 5 of college football action. The loss dropped the Buffs to 0-2 in Big 12 play and a 2-3 overall record this season.

Another familiar problem cropped up for Coach Prime as his team was unable to stop the Cougars from compiling 208 rushing yards. During Sunday's segment of the "Nightcap" show, former NFL stars Chad Johnson and Shannon Sharpe criticized Deion Sanders for not addressing his team's inability to deal with the BYU run game (0:25).

"36 rushes, 206 yards given up, touchdown," Sharpe said. "I don't know what's going on, they're gonna have to get some linemen. Because guess what? Again, they can't stop the damn run. Here we are in year 3 and they haven't gotten better. They ain't got the players. The ones that are there, are making mistakes you can't make.

"You live and die in the trenches," Ochocinco said. "That's the only thing that separates the power five schools from everybody else. And the fact that in the trenches, offensively and defensively, you got some hogs that can really play.

"If you can't stop the run, you're dead in the water, you're gonna lose every game. It doesn't matter who you're playing. You could be playing the Sisters of the North, if you don't have it upfront, they're gonna beat you."

Deion Sanders rues missed chance

After Colorado's 37-20 win over the Wyoming Cowboys, the Buffaloes seemed to have turned around their form and were on the verge of a famous win over the No. 23 BYU Cougars before polarizing quarterback Kaidon Salter threw a pick with less than a minute to go.

During his postgame news conference, Deion Sanders, who challenged his staff to do better before the game against BYU, rued his team's missed chance to notch a big win.

"Sometimes when it seems like you had more talent but you didn’t quite win the game, it makes it feel somewhat awkward,” Deion Sanders said. We had opportunities, a tremendous amount of opportunities, but nevertheless, we didn’t cash in on it.

"Sometimes it felt like the moment was just too big for some of our athletes, and they’ve got to do something about that. We’ve got to do better, as a staff, as a team, and I’ve got to do better.”

The Buffs are 0-2 in Big 12 play and with a difficult conference schedule, Deion Sanders' team is in danger of missing out on bowl eligibility for the second time in his three-year tenure.