Colorado State coach Jay Norvell made the odd choice of trying to give Colorado coach Deion Sanders a lesson in etiquette just days before the teams play in the latest edition of the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
After what Norvell said about Sanders wearing a hat and sunglasses at news conferences, it sounds like Sanders and the Buffaloes want to teach Norvell and the Rams a different kind of lesson Saturday night in Boulder.
No. 18 Colorado (2-0) has won the last five matchups against its in-state rival (most recently in 2019) and holds a 67-22-2 edge in the series. Colorado State (0-1) hasn’t had a winning campaign since 2017 and is a 23½-point underdog, according to FanDuel.
But, hey, at least Norvell’s mother taught him some manners … or something like that.
On his weekly radio show Wednesday, Norvell made a thinly veiled reference to the Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Referencing an ESPN interview he had done ahead of the game, Norvell said: “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.’”
The live audience attending the recording loved the barb. Sanders may have loved it too — for motivational purposes, although he certainly didn’t let it show when addressing his players Thursday.
“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,” said Sanders, wearing a hat and sunglasses.
“Why would you want to talk about us when we don’t talk about nobody? 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, what?”
“Personal!” his players responded.
Sanders continued: “It was just gonna be a good game and they done messed around and made it?”
“Personal!” his players answered.
Coach Prime was on a roll: “It was gonna be a great task — a battle of Colorado — but they done messed around and made it?”
“Personal!” his players said.
Sanders smiled, nodded and replied, “That’s right.”
