FORT WORTH, Texas — Deion Sanders has never shied away from trash talk. He had plenty of reason to talk it Saturday afternoon.
After his Colorado Buffaloes stunned TCU in a 45-42 win in Fort Worth, Sanders settled into the podium at his postgame press conference. And he was ready to set the record straight.
“I got receipts, I know who they are,” Sanders said of his critics. “I tried to tell you [about Travis Hunter] but you didn’t want to believe me, because I’m just a lofty old young coach. I don’t know nothing about football. I just played in the NFL for 14. Played at a high level in college for four. And been coaching youth all the way up for a long time. How do you think we got Dylan Edwards? I coached him when he was 4-7 years old. That’s why we got Dylan Edwards.”
Sanders’ chest-thumping wasn’t the usual manufactured underdog storyline that often surfaces in college football. There were serious doubts about Sanders having immediate success at Colorado. The team was one of the worst in college football in 2022, and when Sanders arrived, he turned over nearly the entire roster.
He brought in talent, too, like his son, Shedeur Sanders, and former top recruit Travis Hunter. But the younger Sanders and Hunter had played at Jackson State, not the top level of college football. And the talented recruits Sanders brought to Boulder were considered, if anything, inexperienced.
Vegas didn’t believe in Sanders; the Buffaloes opened as 20.5-point underdogs against TCU. And Tom Luginbill, an analyst with ESPN, went as far to suggest that Colorado could have the worst roster in the country.
The Buffaloes on Saturday proved that was far from the case. And Shedeur Sanders and Hunter proved they belong in college football’s top level.
Sanders threw for 510 yards passing and four touchdowns, gutting the TCU defense at every turn. And Hunter starred on both sides of the ball, locking down TCU receivers as a cornerback and intercepting Chandler Morris on the goal line. On offense, Hunter caught 11 passes for 119 yards.
“I deflect a lot of things, but I’m human, so I feel some things,” Sanders said after the game. “And I’m a natural giver. I give, I give, I give. And every once in a while, I have one of those empty moments that I gotta reflect on … and what we accomplished out there today, ain’t none of y’all believed that. Maybe a couple of y’all that knew me and knew how I got down. They know I’m a winner. I’m going to end up winning. Ain’t none of y’all thought you were going to be sitting up here. You thought you were supposed to be on the other side, interviewing them. Or coming and asking me, ‘What happened? You said this and you said that.’ Yeah, now what? Now what? Everybody quiet now.”
You can watch Deion’s full press conference here: