Colorado held their game week press conference Tuesday in advance of their upcoming road game at UCF.
Here's what head coach Deion Sanders, defensive lineman Shane Cokes and safety Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig had to say about facing the Knights.
Coach Deion Sanders
On facing UCF and head coach Gus Malzahn:
"Coach Malzahn, I love him. I appreciate him. He's one of my favorite coaches in college football. The way he gave us love and showed us love and compassion, when I think Shedeur was a sophomore or a junior going up to a visit at Auburn, and he offered him on the spot. It was tremendous.
"I love what he's brought to college football. A lot of similarities, he does it his way, and I love the way he does it. He's unapologetic about the way he does it. And he's with a bunch of Florida boys, which is my home state, which I absolutely adore.
"And it's gonna be a great game. I look forward to the contest. They run the ball extremely well. They get to the ball on defense, pretty much a veteran team when you're looking at several seniors on each side of the ball.
"So that's a tremendous amount of experience. And they don't make a lot of mistakes. Big quarterback, strong guy that can not only throw the football, but he can run as well.
So we got our work cut out for us."
On defending UCF's strong running game:
"Well, we gotta load the box up and pray and stop the run. I feel good about our scheme. I feel good about what I saw at practice today. I feel good about what we've been accomplishing versus the run defensively.
"We gotta improve in some certain areas. But I think we get Chidozie (Nwanko) back this week as well. That's a tremendous plus because of his attitude, his leadership, and the way he works. Tremendous plus."
More on going up against Gus Malzahn:
"Well, it's an honor. It's an honor, you gotta understand. I was a little high school coach visiting those guys, taking my kids on the college tours. And now to have the opportunity to coach on the same field, it's an honor. It's a tremendous honor, and I got love for him.
"I mean, after we play them, then I could call him for advice. He's not gonna give me advice before. But he's one of the guys that I would call for advice on certain situations that may occur with college football players. I'm pretty sure everybody's dealing with the guys that wants to redshirt. I think everybody's dealing with that right now. So you're having those meetings. We're not the only one having several meetings.
"But I'm pretty sure a host of college football coaches are having those. And I would like to know how they deal with certain situations. But maybe after the game. That's what Chip Kelly told me last year. He said, after the game, you can call me."
On Sanders and other Florida natives on the team returning to their home state of Florida:
"Well, it's good now. Until you get down there and play, you gotta win. We don't wanna go down there and think it's just a road trip, it's a field trip. We wanna go down there and win. So we're practicing our butt off, trying to make sure we dot I's and cross T's. And we give it a valiant effort.
"It starts in practice. Everything starts in practice. I tell the kids this morning, it's like a vending machine. Whatever you put in, you're gonna get out, unless you wanna go to Vegas.
"And put a little bit in, you expect to get a lot out. But that's called gambling, where I'm from. And you don't wanna gamble with your career, with your life, and with the time you have left.
"So our Florida boys are excited, but they know we're on the job, it's on the job."
On why Florida has tremendous football talent:
"That hunger, that thirst, that will, that want, that me against the world. That we don't have the best of things, but we gonna make the most of things.
"The way our parents came up to desolate and turbulent times that we've come through, the naysayers, the haters.
"Florida may have the least paid high school coaches in the country, but may produce the most athletes in the country. I don't know how that happens, even when it comes to facilities.
"I'm sure Texas is number one when it comes to facilities. And Florida's still putting out dogs. I don't know if anybody have done a study lately, but in the NFL, I'm pretty sure Florida's ranked up there pretty darn high.
"And it's not a huge state. But I'm speaking, because one of the kids just asked this question. And (Warren) Sapp just took over that conversation and let them know, if you want to put an All Pro team out there with Florida boys, we got one. So that just happened in the game, before the game in the cafeteria the night before. So one of the guys was talking about Georgia was like that. And Sapp had to check him on that."
On leaving for Florida early because of the approaching storm (Colorado will now fly in on Wednesday instead of Thursday):
"Well, our players like simplicity, and I do too. So I don't wanna take a risk and a chance of, we're gonna leave Thursday anyway. So the storm is supposed to hit Thursday. So we don't wanna take that chance, and the storm hits Thursday. Now we can't get there to Friday evening, now it's a rush.
"So we're trying to get ahead of the curve and be smart with it. Our guys like consistency. So being settled and having a consistent plan in place works in our favor.
"We've already secured practice facilities. We already, I think, set the truck on the road. We're right where we wanna be. We're just gonna make it consistent as possible for our young men."
DL Shane Cokes
On how to defend UCF's running game, which ranks No. 1 in the country:
"Simply, dominate, start off fast. I mean, that's the biggest thing for us. I think it's taken us a little bit to start off fast.
"The first two games, start off slow in the first quarter, come back in the second half. I think these past two weeks from Baylor and CSU, we've kind of done that. We've kind of started off, played a complete game.
"But we know they're No. 1 in the nation, so we need to match up to that. And we need to play to that level, be physical up front, be gap sound, be disciplined, and play with the competition."
On moving on from the dramatic win vs. Baylor and shifting focus to UCF:
" Short-term memory, short-term memory always. Win, lose, draw, no matter what. So obviously, Saturday night was crazy. Probably craziest game I've ever played in, for sure. But enjoy that Sunday, fix mistakes, watch the film.
"And now today, get ready for UCF, because, hey, gotta go 1-0 again this week. Big game before the bye week, so focus on them."
On defending UCF QB KJ Jefferson:
"Yeah, I mean, obviously, like always, QB draw and plays like that. But going up against KJ Jefferson this week, we know he likes to run. They ran on us the past weeks through quarterback runs.
"So I think it's just putting emphasis on that. If this worked a few weeks ago, they're probably gonna work on it this week and run against us. So we know it's coming, they know they wanna do it. So point is to stop it, see it in practice, see how we're gonna run against it and just put a stop to it. We know the challenge is up, so we just gotta face it."
On UCF being a heavy favorite and whether they feel like an underdog:
"I mean, underdog, no matter what the situation is, you gotta go into every game with the mindset of going 1-0 that week. That's how I take it, that's how the defense takes it, that's how the D-line room takes it. Every week is a challenge.
"They practice too, they practice plays, they practice to win. So no matter if they're the favorite, we're the underdog, we're the underdog, they're the favorite. It's about going in that Saturday and playing a full and complete game."
DB Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig
On playing in the Bounce House, a hostile environment, similar to what they faced at Nebraska:
"Just everything, just trying to start fast. I mean, we've had a problem with that since I've been here. Honestly, I'm just coming out and starting fast from the jump. We had a pretty good start this week, coming out and getting a three and out.
"So it's something you just gotta work at. We're just trying to find different ways to start fast. When we come to practice, we just make sure we're ready to go practice. So when we hit the field and nobody's fiddling around with their helmet, shoulder pads, we're just trying to start fast. And it comes, it comes.
"It's kind of like we wanna make the game dramatic. We kinda want all the games to go viral at this point. So that's how it is, but we're just working on everything."
On facing UCF QB KJ Jefferson:
"Just tackling him hard and early. KJ is great with his legs, a lot of running we fixing to get. So just make sure everybody doing their jobs and get to the quarterback and we get to him, we make sure the tackles on him, the big old guy."
On Colorado's Florida players being excited to go home:
"These guys ready to go back home. Everybody's trying to trade tickets and everything. They got a million people coming to the game. So everybody's excited to go down to Florida. It's gonna be a nice venue, a nice team to play against."
