Deion Sanders compares local rivalries to divorce ahead of Colorado State

ESPN’s College GameDay is headed to Colorado for an in-state showdown between Colorado and Colorado State.

For Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, the showdown promises an even brighter spotlight than the program’s already under. But that’s nothing new to the head coach, who isn’t worried about being ready for a showdown.

“Yeah, I had two divorces which was heck of a showdowns too,” Sanders joked. “So don’t tell me about a showdown.”

Colorado has won the last five meetings with Colorado State, dating back to a 2014 loss. Sanders and his program will be looking to stretch their season record out to 3-0, a heck of a start for a program that won just one game all year long in 2022.

That a rival represents the opportunity to go 3-0 is just icing on the cake.

“Now you want me to understand better Rocky Mountain Showdown,” Sanders said. “You’ve got to give me some verbiage or some literature on something just to brief me, but trust me, this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to that. I think the Falcons and the Saints were quite a showdown as well as playing against the 49ers, Cowboys-49ers, I could keep going, Cowboys-Philly, Cowboys-whoever was always there in a showdown. Baseball as well.

“So it’s always some type of adversity that you have against someone in close proximity of you.”

Deion Sanders provides injury update

Unfortunately Colorado may not be completely healthy when it comes to the rivalry showdown with Colorado State.

Sanders provided an injury update Tuesday on starting center Van Wells. Wells left last week’s victory over Nebraska with an injury, and he was replaced by a true freshman Hank Zilinskas.

“Healing,” Sanders said during his Tuesday press conference. “The thing about it, this is a game, it’s next man up. Guy came in and did a great job and we didn’t miss a beat. That’s the thing. When any of these running backs go out, when those receivers go out, the defensive line has a tremendous rotation and we’re trying to find those two linebackers that we feel are suitable. We have rotations in some of the dime packages and the nickel packages as well. We have the depth that we need. We could always use more, but I feel like we’re okay at that position. We’re okay. But hopefully Van gets better soon.”

Wells was one of a small number of players to stick around at Colorado through the coaching change this past offseason. He played in nine games for the program last season as a true freshman.