Deion Sanders called it "bull-junk" then and wondered aloud why Colorado's rival to the north, Colorado State, had "done made things personal."
As Amazon continues streaming "Coach Prime: Season 2" for its eponymously titled show about Deion Sanders, a new episode reveals the terse postgame exchange between Sanders and Colorado State coach Jay Norvell, who in the days leading up to that early-September edition of the "Rocky Mountain Showdown" seemed to take a shot at Sanders.
Norvell opened a press conference the week of the game by discussing how he was taught to take off his hat and sunglasses indoors and when addressing people.
Coach Prime immediately latched onto those comments as a personal affront -- and more specifically as an attack on the way Sanders's mom had raised him.
As Norvell congratulated Coach Prime on the field after the Buffaloes had rallied for an 43-35 double-overtime win, Norvell told Sanders "Congratulations. I was never talking about your family."
"Oh, you was talking about my mama, dog," Deion Sanders said, as his son, star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, also was in the middle of the encounter.
Episode 3 of “Coach Prime” reveals the interaction between Coach Prime and Jay Norvell on the field after Norvell infamously said:
— RK (@RyanKoenigsberg) December 14, 2023
“When I talk to grownups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That’s what my mother taught me.” pic.twitter.com/3RRa4VeIgW
Norvell again tried to say that he had not meant reference to Sanders's mother with his pre-game comments, but again, Coach Prime said, "Yes, you were. You were."
A clearly exasperated Norvell turned and walked away, no doubt doubly stung by both Sanders's direct comments and the fact that his Rams team had just blown an 11-point fourth-quarter lead.
Norvell's wife, Kim, chimed in with a since-deleted post on her social media X account:
The rather entertaining full recap of the feud leading into that game can be found here: Norvell, Sanders in war of words