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Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Deion Sanders responds to jab from CSU's Jay Norvell

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 9/15/23

University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders can rub certain people the wrong way. Apparently, Jay Norvell is one of them.

The Colorado State head coach made some waves Thursday morning after taking a shot at Sanders during his coach’s show “Colorado State Insider,” in which he stated his players were annoyed by the circus-like attention surrounding Saturday’s game against Sanders and the Buffaloes.

Norvell took things a bit further.

Norvell took a shot at Sanders' habit of wearing a hat and/or sunglasses during news conferences, per ESPN.

"I don't care if they hear this in Boulder. I told them [ESPN] -- I took my hat off, and I took my glasses off. I said, 'When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That's what my mother taught me.'"

It didn’t take long for word to reach Sanders, however, who fired back at Norvell’s remarks with a pointed warning about making things personal.

"I'm minding my own business watching some film, trying to get ready, trying to get out here and be the best coach that I could be, and I look up and I read some bull junk that they had said about us, once again," Sanders said in a video taken after practice. "All we do is go out here, work our butts off and do our job on Saturday. But when they give us ammunition, they done messed around and made it [personal].

"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]."

This isn’t the first time CU has used bulletin-board material as motivation heading into a game. Just last week, Sanders and his players referred to their matchup against Nebraska as also being personal.

In fact, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders took offense to comments made by Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule that criticized Sanders’ method of building CU’s roster through the transfer portal. CU dominated the Cornhuskers in a 36-14 rout while Shedeur threw for 393 yards and two touchdowns.

Although they haven’t played since 2019, Colorado has dominated the “Rocky Mountain Rivalry” over its intra-state foe, holding a 67-22-2 edge in the series with victories in eight of the last 10, including five straight wins. The Buffaloes have also won each of the last four meetings by two or more touchdowns.

Despite the personal jab and the irritation of his players, Norvell also had plenty of complimentary things to say about Sanders, as shared in the ESPN story. But it sounds like the damage is done and the intensity will be kicked up a few notches on Saturday.

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