Colorado coach Deion Sanders expects to be emotional at the Alamo Bowl

On By Littum

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SAN ANTONIO – This is the moment Deion Sanders didn’t want to think about too much – the last game coaching his sons, Shedeur and Shilo.

It’s also the final episode of one of the greatest dramas in college football — The Sanders show in Colorado with Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner.

It all ends here Saturday night at the Alamo Bowl against BYU.

“It’s going to be something to watch,” said Deion Sanders, Colorado’s second-year football coach. “I don’t know how to deal with it. I know Travis will trigger me. I know because he always does and he will bring tears to my eyes. But I’m not looking forward. But I do , because it means they are going to another level, another chapter of life. And they will soar.”

Sanders said Friday after a week of toasting festivities, including a roller coaster ride at SeaWorld and a pep rally on the Riverwalk. The idea was to have some fun after a 9-3 season and a first place finish in the Big 12 Conference. But there’s also some seriousness at stake in this game for the likes of Shedeur Sanders and Hunter, Colorado’s two-way star. That’s why they play in it and don’t opt ​​out of it to avoid risking injuries that could hurt the earning potential next year in the NFL.

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado’s quarterback, even complained to his father this week about all the non-football activities scheduled.

“Dad, can we stop going to all this so I can focus and lock myself in?” Shedeur asked him according to Deion.

“That’s where he’s at mentally right now,” Deion Sanders said.

‘The People’s Big 12 championship’?

Sanders called the game a “blessing.” It might even be the most attractive bowl game of the season outside of the playoffs.

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff went so far as to call it “the people’s Big 12 championship,” a secondary Big 12 title game of sorts, after BYU and Colorado finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 to end the regular season . . Due to the league’s tiebreaker rules, the other two first-place teams played in the actual Big 12 championship game earlier this month, with Arizona State beating Iowa State to advance to the College Football Playoff.

Ironically, Arizona State was picked to finish 16thth out of 16 Big 12 teams in a preseason media poll. Colorado was picked to finish 11ththwith BYU 13th.

“We’re taking it seriously because we were predicted not to be here by some of you wonderful people” in the news media, Sanders said at a news conference Friday at the Alamodome.

‘We wouldn’t have had a Heisman Trophy winner’

Sanders has coached his sons since youth football, through high school and then at Jackson State before they all came to Colorado. Besides being a family farewell ballad, the game marks the realization of Sanders’ vision for Colorado, which finished 1-11 before his arrival in December 2022.

If he didn’t take the Colorado job in December 2022, would Hunter have won the Heisman Trophy under him at Jackson State, which plays at a lower division level? Would Shedeur Sanders have been considered a top-10 NFL draft pick like he is now?

Sanders thanked Colorado athletic director Rick George for hiring him.

“I’m thankful that Rick gave me the opportunity because if not, we wouldn’t have had a Heisman Trophy winner,” Deion Sanders said. “We wouldn’t have had a guy (expected) to be the first or second pick in the entire draft. … It wouldn’t have happened here if I hadn’t accepted that call.”

Deion Sanders loses ‘dress-up’ battle to BYU coach

The game also represents a love fest between Deion Sanders and BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. Both expressed their admiration for each other on Friday after getting to know each other in recent years. Sanders attended the press conference in a stylish white jumpsuit and sunglasses, sitting on stage with Sitake, who arrived wearing white Nike sneakers, a blue blazer and black shirt.

Sanders noted.

“His shoe game is on point today, too,” Sanders said of Sitake. “You know, he’s clean. He’s got the jacket. I had no idea, but it’s not like I’d have changed anyway. But he looks really good. And he’s won the dress-up game today. He got me, and I am not happy about that.”

“I got an outfit, man,” Sitake replied. “If we switched wardrobes right now, I’m pretty sure I’d get a lot more out of it than you would. I could never make it work.”

Sitake, 49, then said he “grew up watching” Sanders, 57, play in the NFL.

“I’m not that old, man,” Sanders said.

Sitake even said he recently met Colorado superfan Peggy Coppom, who turned 100 last month. “It was super special,” Sitake said.

Coppom attends the game after Sanders promised before the season he would get her to a bowl game, Colorado’s third since 2016. She sat next to him Friday at a luncheon for the teams at a hotel in Riverwalk.

Kickoff on ABC Saturday from the Alamodome is at 7:30 p.m. ET. As of Thursday evening, limited tickets were still available.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]