"I don't respect that": Shedeur Sanders reveals personal vendetta spurred dominance against Matt Rhule's Nebraska
The Colorado Buffaloes' game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers had a personal relevance for quarterback Shedeur Sanders. He transferred from Jackson State for the 2023 season of college football, along with his father Deion Sanders who took up the head coach job in Colorado. His brother Shilo Sanders is also a player on the roster.
Shedeur made a brilliant debut for Colorado during their season opener against the TCU Horned Frogs. During that game, he recorded 510 passing yards and 4 passing touchdowns. He also became the first player in the history of the Colorado football program to rack up more than 500 yards in a single game.
Then came the Week 2 contest against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. And for Shedeur Sanders, it was a game that was more personal than going against last season's national champion runners-up in Week 1.
The young quarterback once again put up a prolific display of his abilities and showed why he is regarded as one of the contenders for the Heisman Award this year.
Shedeur racked up 393 passing yards and two passing touchdowns against Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Buffs emerged victorious with a 36-14 score at the home ground with a crowd that was almost more than 50,000 people, their biggest home crowd since 2008.
During the post-game conference, Shedeur Sanders opened up about why it was personal going against Rhule and his team.
"It was extremely personal. We go out there and warm up and you got the head coach of the other team standing on the middle of the Buff. A couple of players do it, its fine - you enjoy the scenery.
"But when you got the whole team trying to disrespect it, I'm not going for that at all - so I went in there and disrupted it. They knew rip off, the Buffaloes mean a lot to me. That's what I was saying pregame and I knew it was extreme disrespect."
Shedeur also added:
"He said a lot of things about my pops, 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. All respect was gone for them and their program. I like playing against their DC, but the respect level wasn't there."
The Colorado offense had a slow start to the game. But Shedeur Sanders quickly found his composure after the first quarter. From then on, the team went into cruise mode and had the upper hand on the field against Nebraska.
What did Matt Rhule actually do to offend Shedeur Sanders?
There were primarily two major reasons why Shedeur Sanders considered the game personal against Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers. First off, during the transfer portal period, he made an indirect remark against Deion Sanders and his massive overhaul of the Colorado roster.
After Coach Prime joined the program, more than 80 percent of players from 2022 left the program after their dismal 1-11 season. He brought in nine players from Jackson State, and there were around 86 new players ready to take the stage for Coach Prime and the Buffaloes this season.
While Sanders was looking to revamp the Colorado roster through the transfer portal, Matt Rhule said that he can't wait to coach his players for another season of college football.
"I hear other schools, they can't wait for today, the transfer portal. I can't wait to coach my guys. Let me tell you that. I'm not thinking about anybody else but my team out here," Rhule had said.
While he did not mention Deion Sanders by name, the comment did come at a time when the massive exodus at Colorado was the talk of the town. The second reason why Shedeur Sanders was personally affected was because of an event that occurred prior to the game on Saturday.
Before the kick-off, Matt Rhule held a team meeting in the middle of the field on top of the Buffaloes logo. This did not sit well with Shedeur Sanders, who quickly took action to disrupt the alleged disrespect shown by Nebraska.
Shedeur quickly started his warm-up on the field, which eventually broke down the team meeting of the Cornhuskers.
The Buffaloes next go on to face the Colorado State Rams in Week 3. Can Deion Sanders go on to make it 3-0 this campaign?