Colorado coach Deion Sanders and his Buffaloes have made an art form this season of finding perceived slights (from Nebraska coach Matt Rhule) or more intentional digs (via Colorado State coach Jay Norvell) and turning those into rallying points and motivations.

USC coach Lincoln Riley and his Trojans made sure to provide none of that this week.

As the No. 8-ranked Trojans (4-0, 2-0 Pac-12) prepared for their highly-anticipated showdown at Colorado (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday in Boulder, Colorado, it was all praise and mutual respect between Riley and Sanders.

Starting with Sanders' effusive comments toward Riley on Tuesday ...

"First and foremost, I have the utmost respect and love and appreciation for their head coach. This is a bona fide winner -- not just a winner, a man who has put a plethora of young men into college and they care about the character of the men," Sanders said. "I've been watching his journey because I was living in Texas for a while. ... So just watching his climb from there and what he did for [Oklahoma], and then going out to California and what he's doing for USC, it's commendable.

"I've got love, respect and appreciation for everything that he's accomplishing. He is one of the upper-tier coaches and I admire him tremendously and his staff."

It was Riley's turn later that afternoon to reciprocate the respect ...

"I think he's done a great job. I mean, look at the results. At the end of the day, our job as coaches is to do what’s necessary to help make these programs that give us an opportunity the best we possibly can. That’s kind of the end of it," Riley said. "We’ve all seen it here. There’s a lot more similarities in the transformation here and what coach has done at Colorado than there’s not. I see right where he’s coming from. He’s done a great job with the roster.

"The other thing I’ve seen – I don’t know him, I’ve never met him – but he seems to be very genuine in his approach. Listen, everybody is different. Everybody's got different personalities. I think leadership, I think when you’re fake and try to be something you’re not, people see right through that. Regardless of what your characteristics are, of your personality, if you’re yourself, you can be a great leader. And he certainly seems to do that, seems to very genuine, and certainly his guys have responded to that."

Riley, of course, has leaned heavily on the transfer portal each of the last two offseasons to rebuild USC's roster while delivering a dramatic first-year turnaround with 7-win improvement to 11-3 in his debut last season, followed by the 4-0 start so far this fall.

Sanders took over even more of a mess at Colorado, as the Buffs were 1-11 last season and arguably the worst Power 5 team in college football. He made headlines from his first meeting with the team he inherited, encouraging many of the existing players to consider departing through the transfer portal, before refilling the roster with an unparalleled transfer haul.

That rebuilt roster started 3-0 and was ranked No. 19 in the country before losing 42-6 at Oregon last weekend.

While Riley said he hadn't heard Sanders comments yet when he was asked Tuesday afternoon, he expounded on his own thoughts about his counterpart this week.

"I’m looking forward to getting a chance to meet him and visit with him. Obviously, he’s one of the best players that's ever played our game and so I think will always have an important place in our game, no matter what," Riley said of Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Famer. "So, yeah, looking forward to getting a chance to chat with him and compete against him."

It wasn't just Riley, though.

The USC players kept their comments about the Buffs either overtly positive or intentionally bland, ensuring they would be feeding no so-called "bulletin-board material" this week.

"I really respect what they're doing over there," linebacker Mason Cobb said, adding that Sanders is "one of the GOATs. I think it would be cool to see him on the field and kind of be in his presence."

Wide receiver Breden Rice, who started his college career at Colorado before transferring to USC before last season, noted that he always felt the Buffs were a "sleeping giant."

"And Deion Sanders was able to come wake them up, and I'm happy for that," Rice said.

Added quarterback Caleb Williams: "Something that Colorado's needed and hasn't had in a while, and Deion's Deion, and his son[s Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders], Travis [Hunter] and all those other players have done a good job making that side of the world and that stadium and all of that very exciting. It will be a good game. Really excited to get out there, go against their defense, our defense go against their offense and to have the crowd roaring at us."

Meanwhile, much of the Colorado-related questions this week focused on Shedeur Sanders, who has passed for 1,410 yards, 11 touchdowns and 1 interception through four games and whom Trojans rush end Jamil Muhammad called "a wonderful quarterback" with "wonderful ability" and "wonderful decision-making skills."

"He's just confident. When other people might be shook up, he's confident, which is good. You want that out of your quarterback, out of your leader -- not just your offense but your team," linebacker Eric Gentry said of the Buffs QB. "So, I for sure tip my hat to him and his guys for keeping their cool in a lot of tense moments."

Said cornerback Ceyair Wright: "I think his ability to extend the play, I think that's really big. Even when he's in trouble, he's able to move around and make something happen, so that's something we're definitely preparing for, being able to cover during a scramble drill."

All of that said, Shedeur Sanders was largely neutralized for the first time last week in that lopsided loss at Colorado, passing for just 159 yards and a touchdown while taking 7 sacks.

The Buffs' offensive line has been one of the big vulnerabilities thus far for the team.

"I mean, obviously I've watched film, I've seen areas that we can attack. However, I wouldn't go into the game -- you've got to have a healthy respect for your opponent regardless of whatever you see on tape," Muhammad said. "I mean, like, for example, Arizona State didn't score at all against Fresno State, however they came out and played lights out against us where they had some wonderful plays. ... It's going to be the same thing with Colorado.

"Colorado offensive line, yeah, I'm sure they've had their struggles, but they're still going to come out and play their best game and I expect to have a tough game plan from them."

None of those quotes from the Trojans will serve to add any further motivation for the Buffs this week.

Riley was asked if that was something he spoke to his team about, being careful with their words ahead of playing a team -- and coach -- who have fed off of what has been said about them, really since Sanders was hired.

"We just tried to, kind of going back to the genuine comment, we've just tried to continue to be ourselves and keep our same approach. We haven't been focused on opponents or any of the outside things. To each his own, and we've got to stay focused," Riley said. "We've got plenty of things that we've got to get better at and be ready to handle that have to do with us, and if any of our focus is going anywhere else then that's not the big thing for USC."

His players said much of the same on that matter.

"Just staying true to who we are and playing our game and letting the rest be taken care of," wide receiver Tahj Washington said.