Colorado’s football players thought they were in trouble when head coach Deion Sanders stopped practice and called them to the middle of the field.

“They thought they were going to get chewed out,” Sanders said. “I said, thank you. I like this. I like what I’m seeing. So I’m proud of the young men as well as the coaches and support staff.

“We had a great practice today … we had a great practice.”

Ranked No. 21 in the country, already bowl eligible and in the thick of the race for the Big 12 Conference title, the Buffaloes (6-2, 4-1 Big 12) didn’t appear to come back from a bye week looking to rest on their success.

CU will visit Texas Tech (6-3, 4-2) on Saturday with a chance keep the train rolling and perhaps improve their spot in the standings. But Sanders said CU isn’t concerned with what could be or the success they’ve already enjoyed.

“We don’t care about that,” he said. “I mean, every game is a playoff game to us. It’s been that way all season. I think (quarterback Shedeur Sanders) made a comment early … that every game we play is like a darn Super Bowl to people; not only to them, but to us, and it is, so that’s the way we’re going into it. Every game is a playoff. It’s a single-elimination tournament, and we plan on approaching all of them with passion, with purpose, with consistency, with focus, and that dawg-like attitude.”

The ultimate goal for CU and every other team is a national title. To do that, the Buffs have to get into the 12-team College Football Playoff, and to do that, they’ve likely got to win the Big 12. With two losses already, the Buffs probably can’t afford another, which does, in effect, put CU in “single elimination” territory.

Coach Prime’s focus with the team, however, is on what he saw Tuesday: Come to work ready to roll.

“Just stay hungry, really,” cornerback DJ McKinney said of the key to maintaining success. “Just know what you’re working towards, know what you want to do, and just keep after it. Stay hungry.”

Achieving bowl eligibility, which the Buffs did with a 34-23 win against Cincinnati on Oct. 26, was one big goal to reach. But to get more, that hunger is required. CU is a game behind Big 12 leader BYU and tied for second with Iowa State. Five other teams are just a game back in the loss column.

“We understand what’s at stake. We understand what’s on the table,” Coach Prime said. “Now, there’s a reality in front of us that we just got to focus and go get it. And we’re totally focused on that reality, not anything else. But that reality, that is on us. It’s on us. It’s right there in front of us, and we gotta go get it.”

CU tasted a bit of success early in 2023, Coach Prime’s first season in Boulder. The Buffs started 3-0 and sat at 4-2 midway through the season, but they weren’t ready for the moment and lost six straight games.

This team appears more equipped to handle success, but it’s not an easy thing to handle, Coach Prime said.

“That’s the toughest thing that they deal with, success,” he said. “It’s the toughest thing when a player comes here, and you gotta understand, he wants attention, he wants focus, he wants the tutelage from this staff that we’ve compiled. But then you gotta understand, can he handle it? It’s been a tremendous amount of players and coaches that have come here, and you think they could handle that light, and you find out that they can’t, because that light shows everything. It shows your blemishes, shows your ups, shows your downs … shows everything.”

This month, the Buffs will prove if they’re ready to handle success or not. It starts Saturday in Lubbock, Texas.

“I would hope (the team is ready for it),” Coach Prime said. “That’s what we train for.

“We’ve been through a lot, and we’re prepared for the moment. We’re not shying away from what we expect. We expect to be in this. We expect to be where we are. We expect to be better than where we are, honestly. But we’re here, and we’re thankful, we’re happy, we’re excited, we’re elated, but we’re not done, and we cannot wait to get to Lubbock to do what we’re gifted to do.”