Matt Rhule claims he wasn’t disrespecting the Buffs on Saturday
Sep 11, 2023, 1:15 PM | Updated: Sep 13, 2023, 2:49 pm
After Colorado’s 36-14 victory over Nebraska at Folsom Field on Saturday, Shedeur Sanders voiced his displeasure with the Cornhuskers head coach. The Buffs quarterback said he took the game personally because he believed Matt Rhule had been disrespectful.
During the offseason, Nebraska’s first-year head coach was among the group who criticized the way Deion Sanders had gone about rebuilding the Buffs program. Prior to the game, Rhule’s team gathered on the buffalo logo at midfield. Both of these moves ruffled the feathers of Coach Prime’s son.
“The coach said a lot of things about my pops, about the program,” Shedeur Sanders said at his postgame press conference. “But now that he wants to act nice? I don’t respect that because you’re hating on another man. You shouldn’t do that. All respect was gone for them and their program. I like playing against them. But the respect level, it ain’t there because you disrespected us first.”
The quarterback wasn’t done.
“It was extremely personal,” Sanders added. “We go out there and warm up, you’ve got the head coach of the other team trying to stand out in the middle of the Buff. It’s okay if, like, a couple players do it, it’s fine. Like, just enjoy the scenery. But when you’ve got the whole team trying to disrespect it, I’m not going for that at all. I went in there and disrupted it. So they knew I’m for real. The Buffaloes mean a lot to me. Personally, that’s what I was saying pregame and that’s when I knew it was just extreme disrespect.”
On Monday, Rhule responded to the allegations. He defended his actions.
According to Sam McKewon of the Omaha World Herald, Rhule said that he “never disrespected an opponent a day in my life.” The Huskers head coach also claimed that the pregame moment at CU was a moment of prayer and that he asked Shedeur Sanders to join.
Those are two vastly different accounts of what went down. The victors normally get to write the history, however, so Shedeur Sanders version of events will most likely be the one that’s remembered.
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