Did Deion Sanders’ Julian Lewis callout at halftime inspire game-winning drive?

Sep 4, 2026 - 17:00

Colorado football was in a battle with Georgia Tech in their season opener, but they walked away with a 14-13 win on the road. It wasn’t pretty for Julian Lewis in the first half, as he went into the locker room throwing 6-for-14 for 41 yards. All of that changed after halftime, with head coach Deion Sanders addressing Lewis in the locker room.

“I talked to him at halftime in front of the whole team… ‘Let’s go. You’re that man. We believe in you. Let’s go,'” Sanders said. “I challenged him in front of the whole team, and he went and did his thing… he took advantage of the moment. He didn’t shrink in it,” Sanders said.

Lewis indeed did his thing, and he led the offense to a game-winning drive with around a minute left in the game.

“I said, ‘Look, I’m getting ready to use every one of these timeouts,” Sanders said. “‘You’re probably gonna have a minute-something left on the clock. Go to work, because we’re not going to have a timeout, so they’re not going to be up because they don’t want to get beat deep. They don’t want to do that. We’re going to have a chance to catch and get out of bounds.’

“And [offensive coordinator Brennan Marion] dialed it up. He dialed the correct play, and JuJu made the throw. I’m proud of him.”

Lewis finished the game throwing 14-of-27 for 124 yards and a touchdown, and Colorado was able to block a field goal in the end to complete the victory.

This was a good start for Lewis, and the hope is that he can continue to get better as the season goes on.

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