The Rocky Mountain Showdown isn’t a football game so much as a desperate cry for attention by two schools begging to be big time.

Let’s be honest. The Buffaloes and Rams are more alike than either would like to admit.

From Boulder to Fort Collins, they are better at whining than winning.

Oh, Colorado and Colorado State have shown us they do know how to make noise except where it truly matters most. On the football field, where the Buffs and Rams have a combined record of 36-74 since 2019.

Nothing about Deion Sanders’ program at CU has appeared ready for Prime time except the mouth of a self-promoting coach, still looking for his first signature win against a legitimately tough foe.

The Rams made news this week by cranking up the engine on their broken-down bandwagon to make a beer run to the 6-Pac, a once-proud conference of champions that’s not half of what it once was.

Go ahead, prove my point by whining that I’m not granting the Rams or Buffs the respect they deserve.

CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders can flex his watch all he wants and CSU quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi can yap about how Instagram followers don’t count on the scoreboard.

It’s kinda cute and all in good, clean fun.

But the Rams and Buffs have earned the same amount of on-field respect as the number of votes they are currently receiving in the top 25 polls: zero.

Know what is really at stake when coach Jay Norvell leads the Rams onto their home field Saturday night against Sanders and the Buffs for the 93rd meeting between the schools?

The bottom-line-driven business of college football means this will be the last time CU and CSU play until 2029.

What is the chance that Sanders and Norvell will both be on the job when the Buffs and Rams meet again in five years?

Less than zero.

Sanders has shown he knows how to build a brand and move merchandise like a Hall of Famer. But does he have a clue how to build a football program? Well, you will have to take Coach Prime at his word, because there’s remarkably little solid evidence.

With an 0-5 record against CU, Air Force and Wyoming, Norvell has yet to prove he’s the right man to return bragging rights to the Rams faithful, much less guide a program into a fuzzy future with a half-baked idea to restock the barren shelves of the old Pac-12 with misfit toys.

After boldly picking a we-comin’ fight with all of college football a year ago, Sanders now preaches he’s all about peace and love. It sounds like a matter of self-preservation by a coach who has figured out his players aren’t ready to walk his talk.

Lose to Colorado State, and Prime’s dream of a bowl bid might not be dead. But Sanders definitely wouldn’t like the answer if he sat down in defeat and asked: “Do you believe now?”

Although the Rams are a touchdown underdog, the stakes of this game might be even higher for Colorado State, which bet $220 million on a new stadium and has waited seven long years for a coming out party to prove the Rams are worthy of the big time.

“For many years, the game was played in Mile High Stadium or in Boulder. And so, they never really allowed … the little stepbrother to have the game at home,” said Norvell in an interview with Jim Rome, while emphasizing the opportunity to show off the CSU campus and sell his program to a national TV audience.

“There’s been a lot of bad blood over the years, for whatever reason, and this year will be no exception. But let’s not get it twisted. The game’s gonna get played on the field at 5:30 p.m. MST. And nothing I say or nothing anybody else says or social media is gonna change that.”

In the brave new, dog-eat-dog world of college football, where nobody can afford to have friends and loyalty is often regarded as a sign of weakness, the Buffs and Rams need each other more than ever.

Why? Like it or not, the Rocky Mountain Showdown stands out as a traditional rivalry game, as close to a family feud for two schools trying to convince their fan bases to get worked up about Baylor or Oregon State.

While the Buffs like to pretend the Rams are not worthy of their time, much less their ire, the passion between the CU and CSU football programs is honest and organic, rather than manufactured, made-for-TV hype.

And that’s worth preserving at a time when it’s business before kinship.

The Rams and Buffs should play every year as a celebration of state pride.

But like it or not, college football has become a zero sum game.

So it’s put up or shut up time for Norvell and Sanders.

Coaches are ultimately judged by the scoreboard, baby.

After the 52-0 shellacking the Rams took for a paycheck in Texas and the same-nonsense, different-year pratfall the Buffs took at Nebraska, both Sanders and Norvell really need a win in this Rocky Mountain Showdown to keep hope alive and naysayers at bay.

What’s the long-term ramifications of whether CU or CSU comes out on top this time?

The loser probably won’t be around long enough as coach to bring winning back to a school that has made a big financial bet on football..