Deion Sanders Rips Colorado's 'Stupid' Late Start Time vs. No. 18 Kansas State

Deion Sanders is not a fan of Colorado's late start time against Kansas State on Saturday.

The Buffaloes will kick off at 10:15 p.m. ET against the Wildcats, a time Colorado's head coach strongly disagrees with.

"Who does that?" Sanders said Thursday on the Colorado Football Coaches Show (h/t USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer. "I mean, who has power to sit up there and say, `Yeah, I'm gonna make 'em play at 8:15 (MT)?"

When told that television networks decide the times, Sanders questioned why his team got bumped to such a late start.

"But how stupid is that?" Sanders said. "How stupid is that?"

Sanders and Colorado are no strangers to playing in the waning hours of the night. As members of the Pac-12 last year, they often filled the late slot and kicked off around 10 p.m. ET.

With the move to the Big 12, Sanders hoped to get more early games. He also believes his team warrants an earlier kickoff because of the views they are capable of drawing.

"But it's not smart for a television executive to say, `We gonna to put the game on at this time,'" Sanders said. "Because you're thinking about eyeballs. You're thinking about selling merchandise on the commercials. You're thinking about all that. Why would you do that at that time when half of America is asleep?"

Even when Sanders' electric team kicks off late, the country is still watching. The Buffs' win over Colorado State last season is a perfect example. The game kicked off after 10 p.m. ET and ended past 2 a.m. but still brought in 9.3 million viewers on ESPN, the most-watched late-night college football game ever on the network.

This Saturday's contest will have much higher implications than Colorado's game against Colorado State last year. Both teams come into the game 4-1 with both their Big 12 title hopes and College Football Playoff hopes still alive.

It will be the first ranked opponent the Buffs have faced this year.