"It's cute": Deion Sanders reacts to Colorado's bowl game qualification following the Week 9 win over Cincinnati

Deion Sanders led Colorado to a milestone win on Saturday night. The Buffaloes secured their sixth win of the season after defeating Cincinnati at Folsom Field, securing the first bowl game qualification under the Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Despite starting the 2023 college football season on a brilliant note, winning its first three games, Colorado missed out on a bowl game as it finished the season with a 4-8 record. Deion Sanders reacted to his team's new achievement following the game on Saturday.

"It's cute,” Sanders said of the bowl qualification in his postgame press conference. “It really is, because we really want that. But that's not all we're after. That's one of the hurdles that we're jumping over, that we're going over."

"That's a tremendous hurdle, that we're happy, we're excited, but that's not the end goal for us. That's the beginning, but we are thankful and appreciative that the hard work is going noticed.”

This is the first time Colorado will be appearing in a bowl game since the 2020 college football season which was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Buffaloes played the Alamo Bowl then, losing 55-23 to Texas.

Deion Sanders on Colorado's playoff chances

Colorado has been convincing with its performances in the last couple of weeks. They've seen out their opponents and are believed to be heading for something big this season. The latest win has seen the Buffaloes enter the College Football Playoff conversation.

Deion Sanders was questioned on his team's chances of making the playoffs following the win against Cincinnati on Saturday. The playoff will feature 12 teams this season, giving more teams the opportunity to participate.

"Well, we ain't thinking about the playoffs right now,” Sanders said. “We go one game at a time. We don't even want to be ranked. Don't rank us, please! We don't like that. We’d rather be in the back, in the dark, just chilling in the cut. We are good, we are cool. We are straight.

“All right, so don't feel pressure to rank us. We’re good, I promise you everybody, we are straight. So we're not thinking about that. We're thinking about going into this bye week, healing some injuries, correcting some things that we didn't do well.”

Colorado's best shot at securing a spot in the playoff is by winning the Big 12 championship. This will hand Deion Sanders’ team an automatic qualification for the postseason tournament. The Buffaloes are currently in fourth position in Big 12 standing and might need to win out to reach the championship game.