A year ago, Deion Sanders turned his matchup with coach Matt Rhule and Nebraska into something personal.
This season, he’s full of praise.
The Colorado coach spoke highly of his rival just days before the Buffaloes head to Lincoln, Nebraska, for their last game against the Cornhuskers for the foreseeable future.
Sanders feels that he and Rhule are part of the same coaching group since they both started around the same time and were both given the job of improving struggling programs.
Both coaches faced challenges in their first year—Sanders and the Buffaloes ended up with a 4-8 record, while Rhule and the Cornhuskers finished 5-7.
“I have a ton of respect for Matt Rhule,” Sanders said on Tuesday during his regular news conference. “He’s in, I call it, our class of coaches. … So I root for that class of head coaches that came in that year.
He was a professional, did a phenomenal job, maybe not the job that he aspired to do, but he has a ton of experience, and I love what he’s accomplished in his college coaching career.”
This is quite different from last season when the Buffaloes’ theme for the Nebraska game was “This is personal.” This reflected the rivalry’s history and the Buffaloes’ reaction to some critical remarks from Lincoln that spring.
Particularly upsetting to the Buffaloes was Rhule’s comments about being excited to work with the players he inherited while others were more focused on players coming in through the transfer portal.
Tensions flared early last September when Shedeur Sanders led Colorado to a 36-14 victory over Nebraska.
Before the game, Shedeur Sanders was upset when Rhule’s team huddled on the Buffaloes’ midfield logo during pregame warmups. Sanders went over and broke up the huddle.
On Monday, Rhule avoided answering whether this game was a clash of cultures.
“I think they’re a competitive culture,” Rhule said, referring to his team’s 40-7 win over UTEP with a standout performance by prized recruit Dylan Raiola.
“They go recruit and get the best players they can get. They do well in school. They don’t get in trouble off the field and they compete. I respect that with what they do.”
