Deion Sanders shades Florida State as he confirms CU’s bowl plan
Nov 29, 2024, 3:39 PM | Updated: 3:39 pm
BOULDER—The Colorado Buffaloes will be in a bowl game and yes that means Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter will compete too as head coach Deion Sanders doubled down on the expected top NFL Draft picks playing in what some might see as a meaningless contest.
For now, CU is still technically alive in the College Football Playoff picture at No. 25 in the country but they’ll need a plethora of things to break their way. More likely the Buffs are headed to a non-playoff bowl seeking the program’s first postseason win in over two decades. But it’s not the past that has Coach Prime preaching the importance of the contest, it’s the future of the Buffs on the line.
“Our kids are going to play in the bowl game because that’s what we signed up to do and we’re going to finish,” Sanders said on Friday, explaining further a message he shared earlier in the week. “We’re not going to tap out. That throws off the structure of next season. A couple of teams, take note, laid an egg and haven’t recovered since. We don’t plan on doing that. We’re going to go out there and fight like we did today, regardless of where we are. I wish we had a say in the bowl because I want to go somewhere near that our fanbase can get there economically because I care about them that much. I think we have one of the best fanbases in the country… I love them, I have seen it go from nothing to something. We had a lot to do with it.”
The fanbase is likely going to travel to Las Vegas, San Antonio or San Diego for that bowl game, Prime is right about that.
More eye-popping than the location is the subtle shade former Florida State star Sanders threw at teams from the past. The Seminoles were among many teams over the past few years whose players have opted out of playing in a bowl game when they did not make the College Football Playoff. Last season FSU was undefeated and snubbed from the competition, so their star players didn’t play in the Orange Bowl which was a 63-3 blowout loss. This season the Seminoles are a lousy 2-9 and it appears that the juice behind the program has left.
Sanders has a point, it’s just interesting given his past rocky relationship with Florida State since he left their playing field. Sanders wasn’t happy he wasn’t named the coach there in the past and has changed where he says his alma matter is. Now he’s all for the black and gold and sees the bowl game and practices before as a way to handoff the program from his son and Hunter to the new crop.
While Sanders is already talking portal, the recruits are pouring in and they should be around for those bowl practices. For Shedeur’s money, he’s already talking about the future donations he’ll make to the NIL collective to fund the roster.
At this point in college football, it’s more surprising Sanders and Hunter will play in the bowl game than opt out, but a lot of things in Boulder are different. And the team’s 9-3 season in Prime’s second year, has proven to show the arrow is pointed up for the Buffaloes, now it’s just about making sure the season ends with it pointing that way.
