Colorado State's Jack Howell Wants Revenge Against Deion Sanders' Colorado Ahead of 2024

Joe Londergan | Jul 11, 2024

CSU football's junior safety Jack Howell fires up his teammates on the bench against Wyoming at War Mermorial Stadium on Friday Nov. 3, 2023 in Laramie, Wyo. / Cris Tiller/For the Coloradoan / USA

In any college football rivalry, there's typically no love lost. Even in July, the tension between Colorado and Colorado State is starting to boil.

Last season, Deion Sanders' Colorado team beat CSU 43-35 in a double-overtime thriller, one of the most watched games in FBS last season, where tempers flared frequently and CU's Travis Hunter was hospitalized by a hit that lacerated his liver.

This week at Mountain West Football Media Days in Las Vegas, senior Colorado State safety Jack Howell spoke on the Mountain West Network's broadcast of parts of the event. Howell made it clear that a main priority for the Rams this season is to redeem that loss to their long-time rival.

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Howell also spoke to why the rivalry is extremely personal for him, following in the footsteps of his father John who also played for the Rams and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"CU told me I was too slow, wasn't big enough, and I was right in their backyard. They told me I wasn't good enough," Howell recalled. "Last year they got us in the last two minutes. That was a chippy game. After all the crap that we had to deal with leading up to that game, then after the game, we owe them another game. We want some revenge. If they thought it was physical last time, they're going to be in for a surprise this time."

27 penalties were called in last season's matchup, 17 were on Colorado State.

Howell was CSU's leading tackler in 2023 with 114, second in the Mountain West. He had six and a forced fumble against Colorado last season. The All-Mountain West safety has 286 tackles with five interceptions so far in his college career.

The Rams play the Buffaloes in Fort Collins this season for the first time since 1996 on September 14 on CBS.