Shedeur Sanders Brought the Heat and Deion Sanders Was All Love After Colorado Crushed Nebraska

The University of Colorado football team crushed rival University of Nebraska in its first home game of the season. The final score was 36 to 14 after some sizzling plays on the field, mostly by quarterback Shedeur Sanders, along with an impressive interception by Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig and two touchdowns by Tar-Varish Dawson.

A record-breaking 53,241 people had filled Folsom Field for the September 9 game. And when new head coach Deion Sanders — Shedeur’s father — took the podium at the post-game press conference, he spoke with pride about his team, his children and the CU community.

The two-time Super Bowl champion has always been known for his larger-than-life personality, and with the team already surpassing last year’s meager single win in just two weeks, Sanders had plenty to celebrate.

So did his son. Deion noted that the theme of the week was "it’s personal" as the team, comprised mostly of athletes completely new to CU, prepared to go up against longtime rival Nebraska.

Shedeur shared that new Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule had not only tried to stand on top of the buffalo in the middle of the CU logo before the game, but had spoken ill of Deion during the offseason. He didn't forget the disrespect.

"The coach said a lot of things about my pops, about the program, but now that you wanna act nice, I don't respect that, " Shedeur told media at the press conference. "Because you hating on another man. You shouldn't do that."

Asked about his son's stance, Deion kicked off what would become a series of comments that showed he's about love, not hate, while staying true to his iconic spice.

“To take the onus on himself when someone talks about me, that's how he grew up," Deion said. "When someone talked about my kid, I handled it. That’s the expectation of a father, not a baby daddy. A father. I'm a real father, and I take pride in that, and I try to teach my sons the same.”

Along with Shedeur, Deion Sanders added son Shilo to the team. A third son, Deion Jr., captures video for the squad; daughter Shelomi will play for the CU women's basketball team. He wouldn't do it without his family, the coach added. Although he'd reached the top level of sport as an athlete, this is new for him as a coach, and he enjoyed taking in the Boulder scene with a roaring crowd.

“Beautiful,” Deion said of the fans. “To see that many people that came to see us perform, it was tremendous. Not just the number, but the energy and the love and the expectation.”

Deion didn’t want to go out and about on campus and interact with fans as much in the spring because it was cold, he joked. Getting the chance to do so today, he added that he noticed more Black people around the stadium than he'd seen before.

Along with the economic impact he's had on CU — sometimes dubbed the Prime Effect in honor of his "Prime Time" nickname — Deion sees the social impact that he and his squad have had on Boulder.

"The thing about sports, the thing about competition: When Shedeur's out there doing what he's doing and Travis [Hunter] and Xavier [Weaver] and all those guys, they aren’t Black Colorado Buffaloes, they’re just Colorado Buffaloes," Deion said. "We're bringing people together, and we're uniting, and that's the part of it that I adore."

He also adored it when the students rushed the field at the end of the game, despite intercom announcements cautioning fans not to do so. Deion had seen a club get stormed when he was young, he said, but this was the first time fans have rushed the field during his tenure as an athlete or coach.

“That was phenomenal,” he admitted.

Of course, it wasn't all smiles — despite Deion's congenial temperament. After Shedeur scored a rushing touchdown during the game, he replicated his dad's celebratory dance, which is sometimes known as the Prime Time Shuffle. Asked to rate his performance, Shedeur was confident.

“The dance, it’s in my blood," he said. "I give it 10 out of 10. I really think I did better than him.”

His dad would disagree.

“Nah, he was horrible," Deion said. "He don’t kick the feet up. He don’t want it.”

Still, after repeating the Buffs' refrain of "We Comin'" over the last few weeks, it's safe to say this team — and the big personalities that lead it — have definitely arrived.