BOULDER, Colo. -- Minutes after North Dakota State's game-winning Hail Mary pass left the Bison 4 yards shy of a Thursday night, prime-time upset, Colorado coach Deion Sanders strolled into the postgame news conference more relieved than anything else.
"You ever felt like you won, but you didn't win?" Sanders asked.
He was summing up his own feelings in the moment, but he could have been speaking for all Buffs fans who left not-quite-sold-out Folsom Field having watched a version of their team that looked a lot like the disappointing one from a year ago. Colorado did a lot of good things in its 31-26 win, but it wasn't the type of comprehensive performance against a lower-division team that will inspire fresh optimism about a significant step forward to come this season.