As the Colorado Buffaloes gear up for their season opener, coach Deion Sanders once again finds himself at the center of a media storm.

This time, Sanders clashed with ESPN pundit Paul Finebaum when he was asked by Grete Griffin, Robert Griffin III’s wife and co-host of their podcast "Outta Pocket with RGIII," to respond to Finebaum’s previous comments that Colorado football "is nothing" and "irrelevant in the big picture of college football."

"But he’s talking about us," Sanders said on Tuesday’s episode. "How could we be irrelevant and you talking about me? Like every time I turn around somebody sending me a quote that you talking about me."

Sanders’ remarks prompted Grete Griffin to joke that Finebaum was a fan of Sanders.

"Well, the thing about a fan, you got to understand, a fan only blows when you hot ... so we must be hot," Sanders replied.

Sanders then added that Finebaum was targeting him to stay relevant.

"I know what he’s doing, and I’m proud of him that he is smart enough to understand that this generation, and this thought process and the way we communicate in sports is different, and he’s a dying breed," Sanders said. "So, what does he have to do to stay and keep up with this change, ‘Oh I got to go find that big bad wolf and talk about him, so now I keep my relevancy.’"

Finebaum was quick to respond to Sanders’ comments on a recent episode of ESPN’s "First Take," once again calling Sanders’ remarks "irrelevant."

Finebaum also slammed Sanders for his program’s policies toward the media. According to The Denver Post, Colorado’s football program told the newspaper last week that it would no longer answer questions from its columnist Sean Keeler due to what it perceived as "a series of sustained, personal attacks."

"He did say something that I agree with," Finebaum said of Sanders’ criticism. "He called me a 'dying breed' in the profession, which I'm proud of because I really do believe that the media should be treated with respect and not have selective persecution like he is using out there, not only with this reporter from Denver but other reporters as well."

The Buffaloes will start their 2024 season Thursday against North Dakota State at 8 p.m. ET.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders responds to ESPN pundit Paul Finebaum's criticism