Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes might need this season to heal from their 14-36 Alamo Bowl loss to Kalani Sitake’s BYU Cougars. This year, the Buffs and the Cougars are going to face off on September 27. Deion and company will be hosting Sitake’s boys at the Folsom Field. The San Antonio-based bowl game was the first game between these programs since 1988. But things took a left turn for Deion’s squad. This season, the Buffs stand with a 2-2 record. A victory against the Cougars would inject new energy into Colorado’s campaign and keep postseason aspirations alive. But Deion is keeping the revenge angle out of the door. Instead, Coach Prime went in all praise for Sitake.
Looks like it’s vice versa. The BYU head coach holds great respect for Deion. During a recent press conference, Sitake said, “I think Coach Prime would tell you that in our relationship, I have tons of respect and admiration for him and what he’s done as a coach and as a father and as a disciple of Christ.” The Cougars are running steady, rushing towards Boulder in full throttle after jumping to No. 25 in the AP top 25 with a convincing win at East Carolina. Deion may feel the pressure, but he’s cloaking it in admiration for Sitake.
On September 23, BYU Sports analyst Ben Criddle posted a clip from Deion’s interview. The Buffs head coach said, “BYU Coach Sitake, I consider him a friend. I consider him a dear, dear, dear friend and a God-fearing man, which I adore. Man of standard, man of principle, and a darn good coach, and a good dude. He’s gonna have his team ready.” BYU may have lost star QB Jake Retzlaff. Yet still, the offense is still humming early on.
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Against softer competition, Bear Bachmeier boasts a 66.7% completion rate with four touchdowns, LJ Martin is torching defenses at 8.6 yards per carry, and Chase Roberts has hauled in 185 yards. Defensively, Jack Kelly’s three sacks, Evan Johnson’s two interceptions, and Logan Lutui’s 15 tackles stand out. However, those stats came in lopsided wins over lesser opponents like Portland State, Stanford, and East Carolina.
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Deion continued, “They’ve been playing superbly this season, even with a young quarterback. Defensively, they’ve been shutting things down and doing the doggone thing. Offensively, they’re physical and tough, and that’s the team I know we’re gonna face. A physical, tough football team. I admire him so much. I mean, played at a university, had an opportunity to play pro ball. Just a straight-up winner. He’s a winner.” But no matter how Deion tries to hype the Cougars up, they are not stepping into it.
Rather, Sitake’s boys are prepping themselves up for all three Colorado quarterbacks. Even though Kaidon Salter has strengthened his ground as Deion’s QB1 after his strong feat against Wyoming, the Cougars are also including Julian “JuJu” Lewis and Ryan Staub in their syllabus. The face-off’s outcome remains unseen, yet an unkept promise may be pricking Deion’s heart.
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Will Deion Sanders be able to keep his promise this time?
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to break that [record], because I know what Coach [Sitake] is going to bring to the table, and I know how deep our fans come, so we’re going to sell this game out, expeditiously. So get ready to put a little tickets in the cut,” promised Deion before the Alamo Bowl last season. The record crowd for the event came in 2007, when 66,166 fans packed in for Penn State vs. Texas A&M surpassed the 64,000-seat stadium.
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But poor Deion. His aim to break attendance records at the Alamodome remained unfulfilled. The 2024 Alamo Bowl could not break the record as a capacity crowd of 64,261 attended the game in person. Now, what about this time? Well, Deion can see some silver lining. Against the Wyoming Cowboys, Colorado witnessed an attendance of 53,442 on Folsom Field, their highest number of audience in 17 long years. Were the fans disappointed? No way. Deion’s quarterback, Salter, took the responsibility to send them home with happy memories. He completed three of his first four attempts for 304 yards, finishing the night with 86 rushing yards. Now, before the face-off against BYU, Deion is keeping his boys on high alert.
Deion Sanders is focusing on the word “accountability” for this week. On the New Heights podcast, the Colorado head coach stressed how nothing comes for free; you need to earn it. “Everybody’s accountable, baby. Everybody’s accountable. We got to step it up. We got to go to the next level. And you can’t want the good, pretty, shiny stuff if you’re not ready to do the good, pretty, shiny things,” alarmed the Colorado head coach. So, no matter the courteous words, Deion is quietly scheming to avenge last season’s 14-36 drubbing.