Following a major announcement regarding the viewership numbers from Thursday’s matchup between Colorado and North Dakota State, Robert Griffin III trolled one of his former ESPN colleagues over a bad take on Colorado.
Griffin posted a photo on X of himself and Paul Finebaum with the caption, “Apparently, Colorado is relevant.”
Finebaum addressed comments made by Shedeur Sanders during SEC Media Days, saying, “There are so many misconceptions out there. Deion Sanders is the best salesman I’ve ever seen. I personally love the guy for what he stands for. But the program looking out has a ridiculously inflated view of itself. I heard Shedeur Sanders, who is a fabulous quarterback, say last week, ‘We are everyone’s Super Bowl.’”
“Shedeur, you are not,” Finebaum continued. “You are an easy win nowadays. You got off to a phenomenal start last year, beating a couple of mediocre teams with big names. And quite frankly, you haven’t done anything since other than crash and burn.”
“I know that the media loves this story. We fall all over ourselves. But Colorado isn’t important in college football. Deion Sanders is. He’s a stand-alone person. He’s one of the most charismatic people we’ve ever seen. But Colorado is nothing. They don’t matter. They’re irrelevant in the big picture of college football.”
On Thursday, however, Colorado showed up in the spotlight in a big way, pulling in 4.8 million viewers on average, with a peak number of 5.6 million viewers. It was the top primetime telecast of the night and the best Thursday night opener that ESPN has had since 2017.
Colorado narrowly escaped with a win over North Dakota State, and with a tough Week Two matchup on the road against Nebraska ahead, viewership numbers surrounding one of the newest Big 12 teams should continue to rise.
