Shedeur Sanders calls out Matt Rhule for shot at father: 'I don't respect that'

Deion Sanders said the game between Colorado and Nebraska was “personal” as he got ready for his first time coaching in the rivalry. It appears that was also the case for his son, Shedeur Sanders.

Shedeur Sanders spoke about the personal nature of the game and alluded to comments made by Matt Rhule about his father, which added fuel to the fire ahead of the matchup — a 36-14 Buffaloes victory.

He also talked about something that happened before the game and didn’t necessarily appreciate.

“It was extremely personal,” Shedeur Sanders said. “We go out there and warm up, you’ve got the head coach of the other team trying to stand out in the middle of the Buff. It’s okay if, like, a couple players do it, it’s fine. Like, just enjoy the scenery. But when you’ve got the whole team trying to disrespect it, I’m not going for that at all. I went in there and disrupted it. So they knew I’m for real. The Buffaloes mean a lot to me. Personally, that’s what I was saying pregame and that’s when I knew it was just extreme disrespect.

“The coach said a lot of things about my Pops, about the program. But now that he wants to act nice? I don’t respect that because you’re hating on another man. You shouldn’t do that. It was just — all respect was gone for them and their program. I like playing against their DC. I like playing against them. But the respect level, it ain’t there because you disrespected us first.”

All week in the lead-up to the game, Deion Sanders talked about the “personal” nature of the rivalry. It appears he was successful in getting that message to his players, as well, and it came up again after an avoidable penalty by Shedeur Sanders.

He took his helmet off, which resulted in a 15-yard penalty. When Deion Sanders talked to Shedeur about it, he got a classic response.

“And I went over and said ‘You cannot do that. You cannot take your helmet off,'” Deion Sanders said. “He said ‘Dad, it’s personal.’ I just bent over and laughed my butt off because it was in the moment and I was really upset. He broke me with ‘It’s personal.’ So, they really took it to heart.”

Shedeur Sanders had a monster day once again for Colorado, throwing for 393 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Buffs to the victory. They’ll try to keep the party rolling next week against Colorado State.