Leading up to the season opener against North Dakota State, the focus shifted from the Buffaloes' season prospects to Colorado football coach Deion Sanders' ongoing disputes with the media. Sanders revisited the controversy surrounding a media member banned by the Colorado athletic department.
During ESPN's broadcast of Colorado's game against North Dakota State on Thursday, commentator Mark Jones provided further details from Deion Sanders' perspective. Jones revealed that Sanders felt his “faith” was questioned before deciding to enforce the media ban.
Deion Sanders saying the reporter attacked his faith
The initial issue involved CBS. Sanders cut off Eric Christensen of CBS Colorado mid-question, saying, “I’m not doing nothing with CBS.” He clarified that his problem wasn't with Christensen personally but remarked, “they know what they did.” The discussion then moved on to Sanders’ more recent conflict with The Denver Post, particularly with reporter Sean Keeler.
Following the video, a graphic displayed excerpts from a Denver Post article dated August 10. It read, “Deion Sanders, a 4-8 coach gave a 3-9 news conference. Coach Prime showed CU Buffs fans a four-letter side they hadn’t seen before: Fear. This was Desperate Deion, a man who stared into his future and saw 5-7 staring back.”
Was that what triggered Sanders' reaction? According to Sanders' comments to Jones, it was not.
“Coach Prime told us that he felt the reporter in question questioned and attacked his faith. And subsequently went over the line,” said Mark Jones.
Sean Keeler's comments
On ESPN's Unsportsmanlike, Keeler talked with Courtney Cronin and Peter Burns about his ban from Colorado press conferences. He kicked off the discussion by asking Cronin to guess who was behind the ban: Colorado or Sanders.
Cronin guessed Sanders, pointing out that while the university issued a statement taking the blame and referring to Sanders as “Coach Prime,” they were protecting the head coach.
“My reaction is they like money a lot more than they like the First Amendment,” Keeler said while talking with Burns and Cronin.
“They do. And it’s been great. Deion Sanders is a marketing boon in Boulder, nationally. Hey, you got a 4-8 football coach on the cover of SI. You can’t buy that kind of exposure, and they want to keep that. It’s pretty much that simple. I mean, it’s disappointing. Is it surprising to me with what I know of the administration of Colorado and what I know of the Athletic Department of Colorado? It’s not surprising at all; it just isn’t,” he continued.
Blowback from other members of the media like Stephen A. Smith
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Sanders' clashes with the media drew criticism, including from ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who questioned why Sanders, if he's willing to engage in confrontations, can't handle the scrutiny that comes with it.
“When you are a reporter, when you are a columnist, when you are a pundit, and you rub people the wrong way, sometimes they’re not gonna talk to you,” Smith continued. “Sometimes they’re gonna tell you to kiss their ass. That comes with it. We get it, we understand it, and we take it; but when a program invokes itself into the equation and they take the initiative to say, ‘Well, we’re going to support and co-sign and sponsor off on what the coach is doing,’ that’s problematic because now we get into questions [like], ‘Well, what is fair criticism?’ ‘What is crossing the line?'” said Stephen A. Smith.
The Buffaloes' coach, who had a 4-8 record in his first season at Colorado football, fired back at Paul Finebaum after the CFB commentator criticized him. Deion labeled Finebaum a “dying breed” in sports media.
Colorado football's strong start to the season
Colorado’s reputation as the villain before their season opener against NDSU rallied considerable support for the Bison. However, the Buffaloes dashed any upset hopes with a powerful second half, clinching a 31-26 win over NDSU with a dramatic final throw.
The Buffaloes trailed 20-17 at halftime and struggled to contain Bison QB Cam Miller. The Buffs’ defense shut out NDSU’s offense for most of the second half until Miller scored on a 20-yard run in the final two minutes. Meanwhile, Buffs QB Shedeur Sanders had a strong start to the season, racking up 445 passing yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.
