Colorado State and coach Jay Norvell are ready to move on from the hype surrounding Colorado and Deion Sanders.
The Rams play the Buffaloes on Saturday in a game that will be televised on ESPN and preceded by both ESPN and Fox’s pregame shows on-site in Boulder. Colorado is 2-0 after wins over TCU and Nebraska to start the season and plays its in-state rival before opening its Pac-12 schedule against Oregon and USC.
On his coaches show Wednesday, Norvell said that both he and Colorado State’s players were “tired” of all the attention Sanders and his program were receiving.
“We had to do a bunch of ESPN videos and that’s great, I love them,” Norvell said. “But our kids came out of those videos really with a chip on their shoulder. They’re tired of all that stuff. They really are tired of it. And I sat down with ESPN today and I don’t care if they hear it in Boulder, I told them I took my hat off, I took my glasses off and I said ‘When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That’s what my mother taught me.’”
“They’re not going to like us no matter what we say or do, doesn’t matter. So let’s go up there and play. And so that’s just how I feel about it. I don’t mean to take over the show but I’m just tired of it. I’m tired of all that stuff. And I know everybody else is too. So let’s go play.”
The glasses and hat comment is clearly directed at the Pro Football Hall of Famer Sanders. He’s done numerous televised interviews with a hat and sunglasses on inside. In an interview aired before Colorado’s Week 1 game against TCU, he even gave Fox’s Erin Andrews a pair of sunglasses.
You can also bet that Sanders and his team are going to attempt to use Norvell’s comments as motivation. Sanders said after his team’s win at TCU that he keeps “receipts” and his son Shedeur Sanders said he felt the team was disrespected by Nebraska ahead of its Week 2 win when the Huskers gathered at midfield ahead of the game. The theme of Colorado’s season through the first two weeks has been an us vs. them mentality.
The Buffaloes’ upset of TCU to start the season was one of the biggest upsets of the opening weekend. And if Colorado State beats the Buffaloes, the Rams’ win would be one of the biggest upsets of Week 3. Colorado is a 23.5-point favorite at home over a Colorado State team that has played just once so far this season. CSU opened the season with a 50-24 home loss to Washington State and was off in Week 2.
Colorado State is also looking to end a five-game Colorado win streak in the series that dates back to 2015. Colorado State’s last win came in 2014 with a 31-17 win. The teams haven’t played since 2019, but Colorado has won the last four games by a combined 104 points.