Buff Bites, Vol. 1: Nebraska and CSU coaches express gripes, o-lineman honored, national media swarms Boulder + more
BOULDER—With the first year of the “Coach Prime” era in full swing, it can be easy for important stories and developments to go under the radar. A few stories, mostly to do with Coach Prime and the football team, are getting lost in the shuffle as CU athletics have swept the nation.
Buffs to open final Pac-12 campaign against Oregon in just one of many appearances on national stage
Colorado and Oregon are set for action next week on Saturday, Sept. 23. And while many are focused on the main storyline of the game being Coach Prime’s first big test since taking over as head coach of the Buffaloes, national media are pouncing on the opportunity. ABC will be broadcasting the game from Eugene, Oregon at 1:30 p.m. MDT.
The broadcast will continue an unprecedented streak for national broadcasts of Colorado football games, with the three preceding regular season games against TCU, Nebraska, and Colorado State being broadcast on Fox and ESPN, and even dating back to the Spring game on ESPN in April. The streak will likely continue in the following weeks in games against USC on Sept. 30 and Stanford on Oct. 13.
This week’s game against Colorado State in particular, will be one for the ages. ESPN’s College Gameday, First Take, The Pat McAfee Show, College Football Live, SportsCenter, Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff, and even CBS’s 60 Minutes will be all around campus broadcasting content from the weekend, leading up to a broadcast of the game on ESPN.
The underlying storyline about this game though, is that it will be the opening game of possibly the final Pac-12 season ever, as the conference is set to dissolve following this season. Colorado is set to depart to the Big 12 Conference, while Oregon will be headed to the Big 10. The Buffs and Ducks will look forward to what may be one last electrifying clash before the sides will be non-conference opponents again. As of today, CU is ranked as the No. 18 team in the country, while Oregon is ranked No. 13.
Matt Rhule, Shedeur go back-and-forth
Colorado Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule had an exchange in separate media conferences in the past few days, stemming from an incident that occurred at midfield hours before the Colorado-Nebraska game on Saturday. The incident consisted of the entire Nebraska team, led by Coach Rhule, running onto the field and standing on the midfield Buffalo logo just prior to pregame warmups.
Shedeur took exception to the act and walked out to the crowd to break up the gathering, leading to a mild exchange between Shedeur and a few Nebraska players. Particularly, pictures later came out to show Shedeur flexing his watch to one of the players, stirring up rivalry talk online even further.
After the game, in which CU won 36-14, Shedeur talked about the exchange through the lens of the “personal” nature of this year’s rivalry with the Huskers. He also mentioned Coach Rhule’s various comments about his father, Coach Prime, that were made this past off-season.
“It was extremely personal,” said the Colorado QB. “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.”
In response, Coach Rhule claimed that he has “never disrespected an opponent” and that the gathering was a team prayer that they do before every game.
“We do that at every stadium,” Rhule said. “We go there. We pray for blessings. When they came in, I asked them, I asked Shedeur (Sanders) if he wanted to pray with us. I pray over everything.”
Despite these claims, witnesses that were near the gathering claimed that there was no “team prayer” going on at all. Also, college and professional football has long had unwritten rules regarding road opponents standing over or disrespecting a home team’s logos, so many have pointed out that no matter what Rhule and the team’s intentions were, the act of standing on the Buffalo was disrespectful.
No matter if Shedeur’s comments were in bad taste or if Rhule’s claims are based in reality or not, it is great to see the Colorado-Nebraska rivalry back and as bitter as it has ever been before.
Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan honored
Junior left tackle Gerad “Tank” Christian-Lichtenhan was awarded the Pac-12 Offensive Lineman of the Week award on Monday, highlighting his performance against Nebraska this past Saturday. This is just the second time a Colorado offensive lineman has been given this honor since its inception in 2019, with Arlington Hambright winning the award that season.
Gerad is one of the just three returning starters from last year’s team, being with the program since 2021, and it has paid off in a huge way. The towering six-foot-ten tackle from Davis, California has a Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade of 90.2 through Week 2, 13th-best in the nation. He had a 91.6 pass blocking grade in the Nebraska game, allowing just one pressure on 55 snaps. It is great to see such an honor go to the “tank” tasked to protect Shedeur Sanders’ blind side.
CSU makes a starting quarterback change
Colorado State is set to make a change at quarterback ahead of the Rocky Mountain Showdown, as true freshman Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi will take over for now backup Clay Millen after just one game. Millen played just two full quarters in the Rams’ season-opening 50-24 loss against Washington State before an injury in the third prompted Fowler-Nicolosi to enter.
With Millen at the helm, the Rams scored just three points. But once Fowler-Nicolosi replaced him, the offense began to click. The freshman from Aledo, Texas threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns in his college debut to make the score a bit more respectable. Millen is able to play, but a spark was seen in Fowler-Nicolosi and it is something to monitor heading into the Buffs’ clash with the Rams on Saturday night.
CSU coach takes shots at Coach Prime
ado State head coach Jay Norvell appeared to give Coach Prime and the Buffs some unprovoked bulletin-board material ahead of Saturday’s rivalry game during his radio show on Wednesday night.
“I sat down with ESPN today,” Norvell said. “I don’t care if they hear this in Boulder. I told them, I took my hat off, and I took my glasses off. I said, ‘When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That’s what my mother taught me.'”
These comments have not been taken lightly by Coach Prime, the team, or the CU fanbase, and will be a fascinating talking point going into Saturday’s game. In a recent YouTube video of Colorado’s practice on Thursday, Prime can be seen addressing the comments to the team.
“I’m minding my own business watching some film, trying to get ready, trying to get out here and be the best coach that I could be, and I look up and I read some bull junk that they had said about us, once again,” Coach Sanders said. “Why would you want to talk about us when we don’t talk about nobody? All we do is go out here, work our butts off and do our job on Saturday. But when they give us ammunition, they done messed around and made it (personal).”
We’ll see if it truly is personal this Saturday at 8 p.m. MDT, where the No. 18 Colorado Buffaloes will take on the Colorado State Rams at Folsom Field in the Rocky Mountain Showdown
