{"id":579014,"date":"2026-04-12T02:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T02:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/579014\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T02:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T02:43:10","slug":"cu-buffs-students-say-deion-sanders-honeymoon-in-boulder-is-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/579014\/","title":{"rendered":"CU Buffs students say Deion Sanders’ honeymoon in Boulder is over"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOULDER \u2014 Nothing kills a honeymoon like waking up next to 3-9 for five months.<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no welcome look in Elizabeth Stephan\u2019s eyes<\/a> when she reaches for her CU shirt. And now she\u2019s starting to criticize little things Deion Sanders does.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not anything new and shiny anymore,\u201d Stephan, a CU sophomore, told me as the 2026 Black & Gold scrimmage kicked off Saturday at Folsom Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just kind of a mediocre team that somehow still makes headlines because of our coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a pleasant, overcast Saturday afternoon at 5,440 feet, The Deion Sanders Era at CU officially shifted from the honeymoon phase to the reality phase. Especially with the undergrads in the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the honeymoon is definitely not going anymore, personally,\u201d said Stephan, a Minneapolis native and one of those out-of-staters whose parents dug her going to CU, in part, after watching the Coach Prime Effect from afar. \u201cI think the honeymoon phase has ended. And they\u2019re really struggling to try to keep it up, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

You know the signs. The passion fades. The glow dims. Little things you used to overlook start to get on your nerves. Expectations don\u2019t always line up. Communication can be blunt and awkward.<\/p>\n

Saturday wasn\u2019t awkward, but compared to previous Aprils in Prime Time, it was remarkably \u2026 normal. No national TV. No Hollywood A-listers \u2014 although ex-Broncos great Aqib Talib did show up to talk shop.<\/p>\n

The event was ticketed, but free. CU reported a crowd of 27,772 in \u201cclaimed\u201d attendance. In person, it looked more like 17,000-18,000, up close.<\/p>\n

Which is, you know, fine. Not great. Fine. And pretty close to last year\u2019s reported attendance of 20,430. CU announced a spring crowd of 28,424 in \u201924, well down from 47,277 in \u201923, Coach Prime\u2019s first public exhibition as the Buffs\u2019 boss.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who came from a Big Ten-school culture, there\u2019s a lack of culture here in general for football,\u201d Stephan continued. \u201cIt kind of feels like, for me, (for) students, it\u2019s like, \u2018Show up, it\u2019s a fashion show, smoke, drink, leave.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo,\u201d I countered, \u201cit\u2019s sort of like the SEC?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but the thing is, they win. And even if they lose, they do a ton of pregame activities. They have more lights, and just \u2026 everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ColoradoColorado Buffaloes quarterback Julian Lewis passes the ball during the Black and Gold spring football game at Folsom Field in Boulder on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Matthew Jonas\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

The lower bowl of Folsom\u2019s east side was pretty much full; the upper section of bleachers, not so much. Mind you, that was also by design \u2014 the west side of the stadium was roped off entirely, so that 50% of capacity was scrunched into one half of the building.<\/p>\n

And the eye test made it seem smaller. Like, a lot smaller.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not just us,\u201d Sanders said after the scrimmage. \u201cNo one\u2019s valuing spring (football games) anymore. You\u2019ve got several major colleges not even having spring games. The only thing that would bring it back is if we compete against another school \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning also helps increase that (interest). But people get tired of the same-old, same-old, at a certain point \u2026 Things are so different in college football right now with kids moving, kids leaving \u2026 so it\u2019s hard for the fan base to get to know all these kids and to buy in and say, \u2018You know what, I\u2019m going to support that, (and now) he\u2019s gone.\u2019 So I understand it, wholeheartedly. But we have a tremendous fan base. We have a tremendous student body. We still have a lot of people out there that\u2019s crazy about CU football. And I\u2019m excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RalphieRalphie runs before the start of the Black and Gold spring football game at Folsom Field in Boulder on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Matthew Jonas\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

On one hand, he\u2019s right. Nebraska, which would fill Memorial Stadium in Lincoln for a \u201cMagic: The Gathering\u201d tournament if it meant setting some kind of record, drew just 27,188 for its spring game late last month.<\/a> That was the smallest crowd for a Big Red football exhibition since 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so to come here and walk in, there\u2019s like 10 people,\u201d said Omaha native Jess Wozniak, a Folsom first-timer whose son played alto sax in the pep band Saturday. \u201cWhen we first got here \u2026 I was like, \u2018Wow, there\u2019s not many.\u2019 Now it\u2019s filling up. Now it\u2019s looking better.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the hype (for Sanders) is still there. I feel like it\u2019s filling up \u2014 so the hype has got to be here, still, somewhere, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a free ticket,\u201d I noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, true,\u201d she laughed. \u201cI didn\u2019t think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garrett Tyrrell of Durango, sitting to her right, piped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut it this way,\u201d he said. \u201cThe old man is still watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

So are the kids. Stephan and fellow CU sophomore Colin Chow hiked it up to the top of Section 213 to get an aerial view of Ralphie\u2019s run. Not long after, Buffs QB Julian Lewis opened the scoring for the day with a 13-yard scoring touch pass in the back of the end zone to Danny Scudero, the former San Jose State star and arguably the jewel of Coach Prime\u2019s transfer haul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (2026) could be better than (last fall),\u201d Stephan reflected. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be better than (2024) with Shedeur (Sanders) and Travis (Hunter). That was an insane year. A lot of culture. It was really fun. Everyone was excited going into every game.<\/p>\n

\"ColoradoColorado Buffaloes\u2019 Richard Young, left, takes the handoff from quarterback Isaac Wilson, right, during the Black and Gold spring football game at Folsom Field in Boulder on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Matthew Jonas\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

\u201cBut (2025), not so much. There were a couple of games we went into, and we were like, \u2018(CU) is going to lose, might as well show up.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephan stayed for the Buffs\u2019 home finale against Arizona State last fall \u2014 all the way to the bitter end of a 42-17 defeat.<\/a> Her dad, a Badgers alum, taught her to never leave early.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I was like, \u2018This (stinks),’\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the only game I left halfway through,\u201d Chow, a Golden native, added. \u00a0\u201cI mean, they were competitive in (\u201923 and \u201924) \u2014 even if (CU) didn\u2019t win, everyone was excited. People had expectations for weird games or sudden victories. But (last year), it was like, \u2018Well, we\u2019re down 30, no one on this team is going to pull that out.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Chow grew up nearby. But Stephan\u2019s parents were enamored of the Coach Prime Experience and flew down to attend games just to see Sanders up close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think part of it, too, is (that) Deion isn\u2019t really as new or as (much of) a novelty now,\u201d Stephan said. \u201cHe\u2019s been here as long as a lot of students who go to the games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s cool, but it\u2019s not the same as Deion coming in and \u2018saving it\u2019 from what it was earlier. So it\u2019s just a different feel when new students come in. There are expectations now instead of (it being) the new cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 11:35 a.m., about 90 minutes before the scrimmage, a 20-something in a blue t-shirt looked at the line forming on Colorado Avenue and waved at me.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me,\u201d he asked, nodding back to Folsom behind us. \u201cSo, what is the event today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCU\u2019s Black & Gold game,\u201d I replied. \u201cSpring football.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged, turned on his heel and walked away. Never saw him again. Sometimes, reality bites.<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOULDER \u2014 Nothing kills a honeymoon like waking up next to 3-9 for five months. There\u2019s no welcome…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[254076,1017,24319,18881,1836,29976,1976,1607,2662,1602,75613,75614,188923,1601,64728,399,77262,2558,398,396,397,2806,47752,8223,7702,99,362],"class_list":{"0":"post-579014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-aqib-talib","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-big-ten","11":"tag-boulder","12":"tag-broncos","13":"tag-buffaloes","14":"tag-college","15":"tag-college-football","16":"tag-college-sports","17":"tag-colorado-buffaloes","18":"tag-cu-buffs","19":"tag-cu-buffs-football","20":"tag-danny-scudero","21":"tag-deion-sanders","22":"tag-folsom-field","23":"tag-football","24":"tag-julian-lewis","25":"tag-latest-headlines","26":"tag-ncaa","27":"tag-ncaa-football","28":"tag-ncaafootball","29":"tag-nebraska","30":"tag-san-jose-state","31":"tag-sean-keeler","32":"tag-sec","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-sports-columnists"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}