September 14, 2024
Travis Hunter coming off the field after the Buffaloes'
28-9 win over Colorado State in the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Canvas Stadium Saturday night. By now, all know the routine.
At the tunnel, fans handed down everything but the game program for him to sign -- and he handed it all back. It all might
be on eBay Monday, including a traditional and genuine CU gold helmet with a black Buffalo logo.
FORT COLLINS -- Book Travis Hunter's trip to New
York now.
Barring an injury that causes the Colorado wide receiver and cornerback to lose significant playing time, he's
going to be accepting the Heisman Trophy.
Might as well encourage him to practice the Heisman pose, too. Somehow, given Hunter's sometimes infuriatng and over-the-top showmanship, I doubt
that would take much encouragement. I'm actually surprised he hasn't been spotted doing it yet.
Showmanship drives
him. The spotlight finds him.
Ponder what Hunter will look like in 15 years, in the car commercials with, say, fellow Heisman
winners Caleb Williams, Tim Tebow and Desmond Howard.
On Saturday night in the Buffaloes' 28-9 beatdown
of the Colorado State Rams at Canvas Stadium (while the final score wasn't that decisive, it was a beatdown),
this is all Hunter did:
-- As a wide receiver, he had 13 catches for 100 yards, and that was his fourth 100-yard reception game
in a row. The TD passes from Shedeur Sanders covered 2 and 21 yards.
-- As a cornerback, Hunter had five tackles and an interception, that with
a 38-yard return. This might have been his most eye-popping play, though it became insignificant: Early in the fouth
quarter, Hunter caught up with and hauled down CSU running back Avery Morrow at the CU 4, turning what seemed destined to
be a 66-yard TD run ino a 62- yard play. CSU scored two plays later, anyway, but the play nonetheless was thrilling
and emphasized Hunter's unwillingness to give up on a play. He took himself out of the game ... briefly taking a break.
"That's probaby
the first time I did that," Hunter said. "That's probably the first time, because normally, when I run him
down, I'll be able to catch my breath and get up. But that time, I was just...I don't know what happened."
At that point, Shedeur
Sanders was sitting next to Hunter. "I got mad at him for getting out of the game, too," the quarterback said, laughing.
"I said, 'Bro, don't ever do that again.'"
As the rare two-way star who isn't on the sideline enough to know where to find the
Gatorade, Hunter was on the field for 123 of the 138 snaps from scrimmage Saturday night.
The late Leroy Keyes -- the peerless running
back and cornerback at Purdue, albeit in an age not that far removed from the single-platoon era -- was looking down
and smiling.
Shedeur Sanders was 36-49, for 310 yards and four touchdowns. He also still was in
the game -- and throwing deep -- in the Buffs' final possession, which lasted into the last minute. Let's not be in denial
here: It was evidence of Deion Sanders' grudge-holding for CSU coach Jay Norvell's alleged cheap shots, dating back to the
sunglasses-in-the-dark wars of a year ago. And then there was the silly feuds over what CSU's Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi
and Tory Horton said in August about the Buffs and Instagram.
"The game is about scoring, isn't it?" Deion Sanders said. "I don't know protocol. . . As
long as the other team is t brying to score, we're trying to score. That's my rule."
Hunter's
interception led to four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for those involved when Hunter "spun" the ball and
celebrated with encircled Buff defenders.
As theater, it again was great. Give Hunter and the Buffs involved a 10.
As football, it was
infuriating to many -- whether they were watching the national CBS Sports broadcast, in the Canvas Stadium seats, or on the
field.
The problem is
that the Buffs seem to want to be identified as a spirited group turning the program into Reality TV, yet have thin skins
about the backlash. It didn't bolster credibility when Deion Sanders and others in BuffNation portrayed Fowler-Nicolosi
and Horton's barbs directed at the CU program in mid-August as relentless game-week cheap shots. They weren't. That said,
Fowler-Nicolosi did seem to step over the line when he made a gesture during the game Saturday that seemed to belittle Hunter
as too small. Shadeur Sanders later didn't respond to Fowler-Nicolosi's offer to shake hands on the field after the game ended,
bringing up the Instagram incident to Fowler-Nicolosi.
"The disrespect was uncalled for throughout the week," Deion Sanders said. "A couple of their players
took shots at the whole program. We just want to play some football...I mean, coming down the street, from the time we walked out the locker room,
I heard about how much we sucked. And I hate using that word and that terminology, but that was said. These guys sstood up.
C'mon man, we could hear it. We have ears. We have two of them, as a matter of fact. We heard all the foolishness, and (how)
we might as well abandon the season with one darn loss."
With CU's offensive linemen
standing behind them, Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter discuss the win in the interview room.
Deion Sanders again staked out the "us against
the world" territory in his turn at the microphone.
