EUGENE, Ore — Coach Click got the buttocks of his CU Buffs kicked.
They comin’, Deion Sanders.
And the powers that be in college football are coming for you.
“That was a really good, old-fashioned butt-kicking,” Sanders said Saturday, after Oregon coach Dan Lanning turned this game into a personal vendetta and pounded the Buffs until there was no fight left in them during a 42-6 beatdown.
The Ducks played with a passion fueled by their coach. Prior to kickoff, Lanning promised his team the Buffs were headed for a hard fall.
“The Cinderella story is over, men,” Lanning told his players. “They’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins. There’s a difference. This game ain’t going to be played in Hollywood, it’s going to be played on the grass.”
On the synthetic grass of Autzen Stadium, Oregon kicked the Buffs’ …
“Teams are trying to beat me. They’re not trying to beat our team. They keep forgetting I’m not playing any more. I had a great career. I’m serious, I’ve got a gold jacket,” said Sanders, reminding us of his Hall of Fame credentials after CU got rocked hard enough to be knocked out of the top 25.
When you steal the spotlight the way Coach Prime has, transforming Boulder into the hottest spot on the college football map, there’s going to be jealousy. And when you step into that spotlight, you better not blink.
So I asked Sanders if his brash words make it tougher for his team to win.
“No, it doesn’t make it tougher on our team. These are grown men,” he replied. “I’m not out there. If I was out there playing against every coach we played, we would be totally dominant.”
When I tried to suggest what we saw on this gray September afternoon was evidence of a massive talent gap between his Buffs and Oregon, Coach Prime was having none of it.
“Definitely not,” he said. “If there was a talent gap, we wouldn’t be 3-1 right now. It’s not a talent gap. You just got your butt kicked … Happens sometimes.”
Well, truth be known, maybe there was a little too much loose talk of greatness by Sanders and sons — whether it was Deion bragging to “60 Minutes” about being bigger than the CU program or Shedeur grinning from behind the wheel of a $200,000 car — before the rest of these Buffs were ready to walk that walk.
Maybe Colorado should crank up some Kendrick Lamar at practice and be humble.
Could this beatdown do the Buffs good?
“People around the country will say, ‘This is what they needed to humble themselves.’ We wasn’t arrogant or whatever. We’re just confident people. If our confidence offends your insecurity, that’s the problem with you, it’s not us,” Sanders said.
“It’s not something that was needed. It’s like getting in a car wreck and you saying, ‘Oh, he needed that.’ You don’t need that. That’s just stupid.”
Coach Prime might well be revolutionizing the business of building a college football program before our eyes. The importance of blocking and tackling, however, hasn’t changed since the days of Knute Rockne.
While Sanders brought back plenty of speed and flash in his Louis Vuitton luggage after a trip to the transfer portal, these Buffs need to go back to school, crack the books and get better at the basics.
Driving a Maybach is sweet, but style points don’t count for much on the scoreboard, as CU’s quarterback was rudely reminded by these angry Ducks, who sacked Sanders seven times.
While he is certain to drop in the Heisman Trophy polls after completing only 23 of 33 passes for 159 yards against Oregon, I would argue this defeat actually proved Sanders is the most valuable player in college football.
The Buffs are a 3-9 football team with Shedeur attached. “Got to be perfect,” he said. Ain’t that the truth? CU can’t win without him.
If Michael Strahan, The Rock or any of Coach Prime’s celebrity buddies from the Big Apple to Hollywood have any football eligibility remaining, he might want to suit them up to play defense before quarterback Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans show up in Boulder.
Oregon quarterback Bo Nix ginsued the CU defense with 276 yards and three touchdown passes. Bo knows football. But he’s no Williams, projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
True to his nature, Coach Prime isn’t worried about a 3-0 start becoming a two-game losing streak.
He wears those shades, because Sanders sees a future so bright Lanning better enjoy beating the Buffs while Oregon still can.
“I keep receipts,” said Sanders, who got word Lanning made it his personal mission to humble CU.
“One thing I can say honestly and candidly: You better get me right now. This is the worst we’re going to be. So you better get me right now.”
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