Nebraska’s Matt Rhule Vehemently Denies Disrespecting Deion Sanders, Colorado

Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders expressed his distaste for the Cornhuskers coach after Saturday’s game.
Nebraska’s Matt Rhule Vehemently Denies Disrespecting Deion Sanders, Colorado
Nebraska’s Matt Rhule Vehemently Denies Disrespecting Deion Sanders, Colorado /

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders boldly criticized Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule after the Buffaloes’ 36–14 win over the Huskers on Saturday.

The Buffaloes quarterback said “all respect was gone for them [Nebraska] and their program” after Rhule spoke poorly of his father, coach Deion Sanders, ahead of the matchup.

Rhule disagreed with the quarterback’s comment, saying he’s “never disrespected an opponent a day in my life,” per the Omaha World-Herald’s Sam McKewon.

The younger Sanders specifically didn’t appreciate the Cornhuskers’ meeting on the Buffs’ midfield logo prior to the game. Rhule addressed the meeting Monday by stating that it was a moment of prayer for the team, and he even invited Sanders to join them.

Shedeur Sanders hasn’t yet responded to Rhule’s explanation, but here’s what he had to say after Saturday’s game.

“It was extremely personal,” 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 O.K. 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.”

That seemed to be the sentiment in the Buffaloes’ locker room all week before the matchup, too. Coach Sanders said he was embracing the rivalry “100%” and that the regional rivalry with Nebraska it was “personal.”


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.