Deion Sanders to AP Poll: 'Don't Rank Us, Please'; Colorado Doesn't Want to Be Ranked

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders believes his team is relishing more of an underdog role after improving to 6-2 on Saturday thanks to a 34-23 win over Cincinnati.

In his postgame press conference, Coach Prime quipped that he doesn't want voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll to make the Buffs a ranked team.

"We ain't thinking about the playoffs right now. We go one game at a time," he told reporters. "We don't even want to be ranked. Don't rank us, please. We don't like that. We'd rather be at the back, in the dark, just chilling in the cut. We good, we cool, we straight. So don't feel pressure to rank us."

Sanders' comments are a marked contrast from the general swagger that surrounded the program when he first arrived and then after a 3-0 start. He appears to have learned his lesson in terms of managing expectations and keeping them relatively grounded.

The Buffs weren't even in the receiving votes category of the AP's Week 9 poll, but they could claim a spot when the rankings are updated Sunday.

Illinois (No. 20), Misssouri (No. 21), Navy (No. 24) and Vanderbilt (No. 25) all lost this weekend and could fall out of the Top 25. Should that happen, Colorado might be among the beneficiaries. The team is bowl-eligible and tied for the third-best mark in the Big 12 (4-1).

Some will argue the Buffaloes' record flatters them a bit, though, considering they lost their two biggest games so far, falling to Nebraska on Sept. 7 and Kansas State on Oct. 12. The Wildcats are the only ranked team they've played so far.

Still, there's no getting around the fact that Colorado is a much better team than it was in 2023, and AP voters will reward Sanders and his players accordingly if they keep adding to their win tally.