After a white-hot 3-0 start to the season, the University of Colorado got knocked back down to reality on Saturday in a 42-6 blowout to the Oregon Ducks in Eugene.
Head coach Deion Sanders, referred to as “Coach Prime,” had turned the school into the epicenter of all of football throughout the first several weeks of the college football season and into arguably the top story in all of sports.
The amount of attention that the program was receiving — combined with some of their top players flashing their financial successes in the faces of their opponents — provided a lot of motivation for the Ducks to want to come out and humiliate the Buffs.
Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning said before the game that his team was “rooted in substance, not flash” and predicted that Colorado’s “Cinderella story” was over.
“The Cinderella story is over, men. They’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins,” he said in the locker room prior to the game. “There’s a difference. This game ain’t going to be played in Hollywood. It’s going to be played on the grass.”
The game did not take long to turn ugly as Oregon manhandled Colorado in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Early in the 2nd quarter with a two-touchdown lead, Oregon ran a well-executed fake punt on 4th down that seemed to be a pivotal moment in the game. By halftime, the score was 35-0.
Lanning, who has shown disdain for Colorado in the past, made clear as he was headed back to the sidelines that he wanted to humiliate Colorado, telling a reporter that he was “not satisfied” with the 35-0 lead.
Late in the 3rd quarter, Lanning had his team — already up 42-0 — go for it on 4th & goal from the Colorado 5-yard line. They came up short. After the failed attempt, Oregon pulled back the reins a bit.
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“First and foremost, I thank the Lord for allowing all this to transpire,” Sanders told the media after the game. “It’s a good old-fashioned butt-kicking. There’s no excuses, no nothing. Their coaches did a heck of a job preparing their team. Obviously we didn’t. That was good. I mean, that was a really good old-fashioned butt-kicking. We went into the game wanting to dominate several phases. We lost offensively, defensively, as well as special teams. That fake punt kind of kind of got them really rolling and they didn’t stop ever since they secured that first down. Well-coached team.”
Sanders later addressed Lanning’s remarks about “clicks.”
“I don’t say stuff just to say it for click on the contrary to what some may say,” he said. “I analyze and I understand what we’re up against and what we have and what we need. One thing that I can say, honestly and candidly, you gotta get me right now. This is the worst we’re gonna be. You better get me right now.”
Deion Sanders responded to Dan Lanning’s “clicks and wins” comment following @CUBuffsFootball’s 42-6 loss to Oregon.
Coach Prime always telling it like it is:@On3sports x @On3Video pic.twitter.com/yolepv1WIW
— Nick Kosko (@nickkosko59) September 23, 2023