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Jeremy Willis, ESPN.com
If we’ve learned anything about the Colorado Buffaloes this season, it’s that they do not forget. Anything.
Slights, hating, trash talk, vague references to the transfer portal … Deion Sanders’ team has gotten all kinds of bulletin board material.
The Buffaloes are 3-0 after Saturday’s double-overtime win over the Colorado State Rams. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, CU is just the fourth team, and the first since 2008, to start a season 3-0 following a season in which it lost 11 or more games.
After Colorado’s upset win over TCU to start the season, Sanders offered what could have been an ominous warning to anyone who questioned him or his team about, well, anything.
“I’ve got receipts. I know who they are.”
At this point, that could be Colorado’s mantra. Here are the receipts the Buffs have shown so far this season:
Week 1: A whole summer of questions
Who started it: The media, in general.
Much was written and said about Sanders’ offseason overhaul of the Buffaloes’ roster. CU started the season with 86 new players, 10 of whom had followed Sanders from Jackson State. They included Shedeur and Shilo Sanders, two of Deion’s children, and former five-star recruit Travis Hunter.
There were questions about the level of competition those players faced, especially those who came from Jackson State, an FCS program. When Shedeur Sanders threw for a school-record 510 yards in the 45-42 win, Deion Sanders’ postgame comments were dripping with sarcasm.
“For real? Shedeur Sanders? From an HBCU? The one that played at Jackson last year? The one that you asked me, ‘Why would I give him the starting job?'”
Also catching a stray was ESPN NFL reporter Ed Werder.
Deion Sanders recognizes ESPN’s Ed Werder from his days covering the Cowboys.
“Do you believe?”
“In what?”
“🤷♂️” pic.twitter.com/OtHdYqyoyf
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 2, 2023
Werder was on “The Dan Patrick Show” the Monday after the game and said he wasn’t sure what Sanders was referring to but thought it might be when he called him a “celebrity coach” in a tweet in March.
Week 2: Transfer tribulation
Who started it: Nebraska Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule.
As noted, Colorado’s roster was practically unrecognizable from the one that played the 2022 season. According to ESPN Stats & Info research, Colorado had the most incoming players to an FBS roster since the inception of the transfer portal in 2018.
In the offseason, Rhule was asked about his approach to the spring transfer period.
“I hear other schools saying they can’t wait for … the transfer portal, I can’t wait to coach my guys,” Rhule said in April.
In the game, Shedeur Sanders went full Michael Jordan “I took that personally” meme.
“The coach said a lot of things about my pops, about the program,” said Sanders, who had 393 yards passing and three scores in the game. “I don’t respect that because you’re hating on another man. All respect was gone for them and their program.
“The respect level ain’t there because he disrespected us first.”
Nebraska might have compounded the problem during its pregame warmups by stepping on Colorado’s midfield logo.
“We go out there to warm up and you got the head coach for the other team trying to stand in the middle of the Buff,” Sanders said. “It’s OK if a couple of players do it, it’s fine. Just enjoy the scenery, but when you’ve got a whole team trying to disrespect it, I’m not going for that at all.”
Sanders added another flex after the game.
Week 3: SunglassesGate
Who started it: Colorado State Rams coach Jay Norvell
The above could be the tagline for an action movie sequel or just a dot on the map of a weird week of back-and-forth before the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
It started when Norvell took a swipe at Deion Sanders for wearing sunglasses just about everywhere.
“When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my sunglasses off,” Norvell said during his coaches show. “That’s what my mom taught me.”
Sanders rebutted: “It was just going to be a good game and they done messed around and made it personal. It was going to be a great task — a battle of Colorado — but they done messed around and made it [personal].”
Shedeur Sanders also chimed in.
Deion Sanders, who has his own line of sunglasses with Blenders brand, began passing out eyewear to just about everyone. During a team meeting, Sanders gave every member of his team a pair of shades.
The game wasn’t holy retribution for Norvell’s coach’s show comment heard ’round the world. It was a nail-biter that saw Colorado need a 98-yard scoring drive to send the game to overtime, with the Buffaloes winning 43-35 in a second overtime. When the game was over, Coach Prime and Norvell shook hands and had a brief interaction. Sanders, however, knew the gravity of the rivalry, especially after such a hyped-up week.
“I said we can’t let this dude win,” Sanders said after the game. “There ain’t no way we let this dude win. This press conference is going to be unbearable if we let this dude win.”
The Buffaloes will have their biggest test to date Saturday when they visit the No. 11 Oregon Ducks. Surely Deion & Co. won’t remember what Oregon coach Dan Lanning said all the way back at the end of July when he was asked about Colorado leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12.
Full quote from Dan Lanning on his reaction to Colorado leaving the conference:
“Not a big reaction. I’m trying to remember what they won to affect this conference and I don’t remember. Do you remember them winning anything? I don’t remember them winning anything.” https://t.co/Kdtf9xgayo pic.twitter.com/XETU03B0Cj
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) July 31, 2023