Deion Sanders was given a chance at his Tuesday press conference to kickstart another back-and-forth with this week’s opponent, but he instead passed.

Monday night, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said he had no regrets over comments he made about the Colorado program in the offseason. He feels they’ll have no bearing on Saturday’s Pac-12 opener against No. 19 Colorado at Autzen Stadium.

Lanning said he was talking about the Colorado program before Sanders’ arrival, and that if CU wanted to use that as motivation, “great,” but he wasn’t going to fret about them.

The question posed to Sanders on Tuesday certainly gave him an opening. Sanders was told that Lanning has spoken about Colorado “a few times in the past” and was asked if the game this weekend was once again personal.

Sanders took a detour.

“I respect the heck out of this man,” Sanders said. “What he’s accomplished, stepping in and taking over the program and keeping it not only rocking steady but accelerating it. … I respect the heck out of him. I love what he’s accomplishing. I love who he is, the way he runs his team. I love the way he operates. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

Sanders and the Buffs have drawn on outside noise for motivation throughout their unbeaten start. Each week it has been something new.

This week might just be about the game, though.

Coming from the Kirby Smart School of Media Relations, Lanning is extremely careful with what he says in front of TV cameras and microphones. The offseason comment about CU leaving the conference might be all the Buffs get all week in the way of bulletin board material.

And that should re-focus the attention on what should be an outstanding matchup.