How Deion Sanders became college football’s Jake Paul

What is it that has made this topic relevant today?

The main takeaway from this discussion should be that the attention Deion Sanders and his Buffs have gotten is growing incredibly annoying, but it’s been doing so for a while now. Nothing surrounding the situation—Deion’s winning at JSU, his hiring at CU, the hype that’s been thrown his way over the course of it all, and so on—is new, so what gives?

For me, the boiling point was one of the most recent subject matters to come out of Boulder. And, surprisingly enough, it was less about Deion himself and more about the horrendous influence he’s already had on the program’s image.

For some context, the Buffaloes will be facing the Nebraska Cornhuskers for their home opener, and, on paper, that probably sounds like a pretty big deal.

The two squads have a lengthy history from back when they shared the Big 12, and the latter was one of college football’s biggest names of the 20th century—seems like a good way to start the year off with a bang, right? Wrong.

As previously established, the Buffs finished last season with a legitimate claim for the title of worst Power 5 team, with their only win coming in overtime over a 4-8 California. As for the Cornhuskers, they also went 4-8, firing head coach Scott Frost after a pathetic home loss to Georgia Southern.

When combining all of this with the fact that Nebraska’s new HC, Matt Rhule, is known for having terrible runs in his first seasons with programs, it makes the Buffs-Huskers battle look like it could be one of the year’s ugliest. However, as of today, the cheapest tickets available on Vivid Seats are going for over $370.

It’s shocking to learn just how inexcusable that number is

For the sake of comparison, you could visit that same site and get a ticket to Michigan Stadium to watch the Wolverines face Ohio State (two title contenders who share a current—and much better—rivalry) within an identical price range. To me, that makes Colorado’s tickets nothing more than blatant scams, but former Buffaloes quarterback-now analyst Joel Klatt called it a result of “The Prime Effect,” which sounds just as fitting.

Look, I get it; Deion Sanders is a big deal, and his arrival has revived many Colorado football fans that have been sunken in their recliners for years. That does not mean we have to treat him like America’s next top coach, though, because especially when at a place like CU, he could not be further from such. And yet, the media insists on giving him constant press anyway.

For me, it’s gotten to a point where it’s difficult to hear any mention of Deion’s Buffaloes without letting it float right out of my head. When shots of him strutting around in a cowboy hat and talking about how “they comin’” are thrown all over the place, I find my go-to response being a scoff followed by “Oh no, there he is again.” As offensive as it may come off, I can only think of one other person who I feel has hit a similar degree of tiresome: Jake Paul.