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Deion Sanders tells Colorado ‘we can’t let this dude win’ during game vs. Jay Norvell
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Deion Sanders knew it was already a rich rivalry game, but then it turned into a double-overtime classic complete with trash talk before and during the game.
What else could you possibly have wanted from the Colorado-Colorado State battle on Saturday night in Boulder?
Well, Sanders, who’s turning the college football world on its ear on a weekly basis, just wanted to win the game. Maybe more so, he didn’t want Colorado State coach Jay Norvell to win, not after all the trash talk that went on in the week leading up to the game.
But Norvell’s team almost did exactly that. Colorado, despite being a big favorite, trailed for most of the game before mounting a furious 4th-quarter rally from a 28-17 deficit to force overtime. The game stretched past midnight local time before the then-No. 18 Buffaloes stayed undefeated at 3-0 with a 43-35 victory over the Rams (0-2) in double overtime.
During his postgame press conference, Coach Prime was as candid and colorful as he always is.
“I’m not happy with how we played, but I’m happy with that win,” said Sanders. “You have to be happy with a W no matter how it comes. Truthfully, at one point in the game, I said (about Norvell), ‘We can’t let this dude win.’ There is no way we let this dude win. His press conference is going to be unbearable if we let this dude win.”
The Buffaloes’ stirring comeback prevented that unbearable press conference, and Sanders praised Norvell and wished him good luck despite all the bluster that was exchanged during the week between the 2 coaches.
“You ain’t just gonna attack me and I ain’t gonna sit back and say nothing. But I’m happy for that dude, man. I don’t know him, but I’m happy for him,” said Sanders. “I wish the best for him. I really do. My success ain’t got nothing to do with his, so why wouldn’t I want him to succeed? I don’t know how people get down like that. My blessings ain’t got nothing to do with his blessings.”
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
