I don't think he/they got exposed. But I also think you can be honest that winning in OT against CSU, at home, after all that was said, was not the win they thought it would be. To storm the field and act like it was a big test and one of resiliency is a) coachspeak for trying to find silver lining and make chicken salad out of a chicken poop played game and b) downplaying that you didn't actually back up your talk of escalation, you just really eeked out the bare minimum, which is a net negative. Here is why I say that:
When Deion made the proclamation "we were gonna have a nice game, but now they made it personal!", the implication was that you were going to go full throttle and annihilate CSU. The same CSU which:
you were the 20+ point favorite already, and
the same CSU which was the only W of the season for the pre-Deion, hapless and horrible CU team.
CSU came out and punched you back in the mouth, and it was a dog fight. You can chalk it up to in-state rivalry, I guess, but that's not the full story. This was the only game of the first three that CU was slated to win in a crushing victory for the last 12 months (Deion or no Deion).
The story here actually is that, as Bill Youst once said to ole Herm Boone, Deion's sinful pride is putting a target on their back (see: hit on Hunter) and creating a situation where they are going to get everyone's best and potentially dirtiest efforts, week in and week out. From a football perspective that feels unnecessary, but maybe in this new world of NIL and transfer portal and personal brands, it's genius. Who am I to judge?