Colorado coach Deion Sanders poured cold water on the idea that the Buffaloes' game this week against Nebraska would again be “personal.” Instead, he praised Nebraska coach Matt Rhule before the rivalry game.
“I have a lot of respect for Matt Rhule,” Sanders said. “He's… I call it our coaching class. We all took on a tremendous test last year along with him.” [Arizona State] Coach [Kenny] Dillingham and several others. So I feel like we're a brotherhood. That's why I support that class of head coaches that came in that year.”
It's a different approach than Sanders took before last year's Nebraska game, when he proclaimed: “This is personal. That's the message of the week: This is personal.”
Colorado won last year's game in Boulder 36-14, after which quarterback Shedeur Sanders said he took issue with Rhule and several Nebraska players standing on the Buffaloes' logo at midfield before the game.
Shedeur Sanders also said after the game that he felt Rhule had been disrespectful with comments he made in the offseason about not wanting cameras to follow him, which he perceived as a criticism of Sanders and Colorado.
“Coach said a lot of things about my dad, about the program, but now that he wants to be nice … I don't respect him because you're hating on another man, you shouldn't do that,” Shedeur Sanders said. “He just lost all respect for them and their program. I like playing against their defensive coordinator, I like playing against them, but the level of respect is not there because you disrespected us first.”
After both teams finished with losing records last season, the animosity appears to have subsided.
“[Rhule] “He was a professional, he did a phenomenal job,” Coach Sanders said. “It may not be the job he aspired to do, but he has a ton of experience and I love what he's accomplished in his college coaching career.”
Colorado won its season opener against North Dakota State last week 31-26. Nebraska opened with a 40-7 win against UTEP.
