This past Saturday, Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes were handed their first loss in blowout fashion to the Oregon Ducks, losing 42-6.
Although Coach Prime has completely turned the Colorado football program around, bringing national attention to the school and kicking off the 2023 season with three straight wins after the team only won one game the season before, it was a harsh reality that the Buffs still have a long way to go before they compete with elite competition in college football.
And of course, the game didn’t come with some controversy too, as Oregon head coach Dan Lanning had this one line to say about Colorado in his pregame speech to his team:
“They’re fighting for clicks. We’re playing for wins”
And then we saw Colorado’s response on game day, walking on the Oregon logo, talking sh*t, and even Deion’s son Shilo saying he’d beat the f*ck out of Dan Lanning:
“I’ll beat the f*ck outta every one of ya’ll and your coach.”
Yeah… that didn’t happen…
A ton of people commented on what Lanning had to say during the pregame speech, including talk show host Skip Bayless, who called it “venomous vengeance” in a derogatory way, referring to Lanning’s pregame speech and running up the score.
With that being said, Lanning addressed Bayless’s comments during a press conference yesterday, essentially praising Coach Prime for what he’s brought to the game, but not apologizing for his desire to win.
And that’s exactly what they did.
As Lanning put it, they did the talking with their pads:
“I don’t know Skip at all, I’ve never had a conversation with him. I’ve watched him enough to know how often he gets it wrong, so I mean that sounds about right. But ultimately, we’re playing to win the game, right?
You saw a 15 second clip from a window view outside the house of what happens in a locker room. I know our locker room, I’m in the house 100% of the time. I know how our players felt going into that game.
I know what it takes to motivate our players, that’s my job to motivate our players, right? He has a job, I have a job too, to get out there and perform on the field, but inside that house they felt a certain way.
They felt a certain way about a group stomping on the O, they felt a certain way about guys talking to them in a pregame, and I’m proud of those guys because what they decided to do was talk with their pads. They didn’t want to do anything extra afterwards, they wanted to talk with their pads, and they did on Saturday.
He went on to commend Deion for what he’s done for the sport of college football, acknowledging that the hype surrounding this game was clearly a result of the national attention Deion has brought to the program:
“Also grateful, and can clearly acknowledge that the attention we got Saturday in large part was due to Deion, and what he’s doing to college football. If anybody can’t see what he’s done for college football, and how he’s bringing excitement to college football, you’re crazy.
And I said that last week as well. He’s done a lot for the game. He’s building something over there that’s really, really clear. But it wouldn’t matter if I was playing my 10-year-old son on the other sideline, I’m gonna do everything I can to win. If I’m playing Bill Belichick, I’m doing everything I can to win.
Did I go for it on 4th down? Yeah, I have every game this year. I’ve gone for it 9 times. Did I go for a two-point conversion? Yeah, I’ve done it three out of the four games this year, and if we play again tomorrow I’m gonna do the same thing I can to win a game, and everything I can to motivate my team.
So that to me is classless what he’s saying there, but I’m not really worried about it.”
Sorry Skip, you wrong on this one…
I mean, how would you not want to play for this guy? The Oregon Ducks could be a force to be reckoned with this season.
