Believe the hype.
Deion Sanders’ debut as Colorado coach was heralded as a big deal, but there was a lot of skepticism about how good the Buffaloes could be after an unprecedented roster shakeup in Boulder.
“We told you we were coming. You thought we were joking. We keep the receipts,” Sanders said after Colorado upset No. 17 TCU on Saturday with a performance that exceeded even the highest expectations.
The team, which featured nearly 90 new players, beat the team that played for the national championship last season.
Where should I start?
Sanders’ son Shedeur set a school record with 510 passing yards in his first major college football game after transferring with his father from Jackson State.
Receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter played 129 snaps and had 11 catches for 119 yards, but his best and biggest play was an interception with TCU in the red zone.
“No, I’m not tired, I’m ready to go back in,” said Hunter, who wore a T-shirt with his Hall of Fame coach’s picture after the game.
Freshman Dylan Edwards, lured away from Notre Dame by Coach Prime, had 159 yards from scrimmage with 11 touchdowns and scored four touchdowns, including the game-winning score late in the fourth quarter.
Colorado ended a 27-game losing streak against ranked teams on the road.
And when it was over, Sanders called out the doubters.
he asked a reporter: “Do you believe now? I read through the nonsense you wrote. Do you believe?”
It’s just one game, but it’s hard to believe that Colorado will be fun and relevant and that Sanders has done a great job of not only building a roster almost from scratch, but also building it for the power Five-Football has prepared.
Offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who left his head coaching job at Kent State to join Sanders’ team, appears to have been a particularly good hire.
Next week, Colorado plays its first home game against Nebraska, another team with a much-touted new coach but one who has had a very different debut.
The Cornhuskers lost on a walk-off field goal at Minnesota on Thursday under Matt Rhule.
Folsom Field should be in ecstasy because the old Big Eight rivalry is about to be revived.
So what is the cap on the buffs?
The defense left a lot to be desired against TCU and the offense probably needs to run the ball better to take some of the pressure off of Shedeur Sanders. But that makes Colorado look like a lot of teams in the Pac-12 this season.
And Hunter playing 120 plays per game seems untenable.
But add an explosive CU team to a league that also includes No. 6 USC and Heisman winner Caleb Williams; No. 10 Washington and Michael Penix Jr.; and No. 15 Oregon and Bo Nix — along with No. 14 Utah and No. 18 Oregon State — and the Pac-12 just got more exciting.
If you’re already a little tired of Coach Prime, be prepared: You’ll be seeing a lot of CU this September.
Fox gives next week’s home opener the Big Noon treatment again. That’s a local kickoff at 10am.
After facing rival Colorado State next week, the Buffaloes end September with back-to-back games against Oregon and USC.
You have our attention, Coach Prime.
PAC-12 SWAN SONG
The demise of the Pac-12 was the story of the offseason.
Beyond this school year, only two schools remain committed to the conference: Oregon State and Washington State.
The rest will be distributed among other Power Five conferences, including Colorado as one of four Pac-12 teams headed to the Big 12 next year.
Failures in leadership and poor decision-making by those in charge have left the Conference of Champions on life support. Even if it survives in some patchwork form, it will never be the same.
It’s sad and made even sadder by how good and entertaining the conference can be.
The opening weekend provided a foretaste.
It started Thursday night when Utah took on Florida of the SEC in Salt Lake City.
On Friday, Stanford won its first game under coach Troy Taylor in Hawaii.
Saturday brought CU’s upset against TCU of the Big 12; Washington overwhelms a Boise State team considered the class of the Mountain West; California rages on the road in North Texas, a newcomer to the American Athletic Conference; and Oregon lost 80 to an FCS opponent.
Meanwhile, Washington State traveled to Colorado State of the Mountain West – what could be a future conference trip for the Cougars – and lost 50 to the Rams.
NEW QBs
No. 3 Ohio State’s quarterback competition may not be over yet. No. 4 Alabama appeared to be gaining clarity on the position.
Kyle McCord and the Buckeyes’ offense were uninspiring in a masterful win over Indiana that also marked the Big Ten debut on CBS.
McCord was 20 for 32 for 239 yards and one interception. Backup Devin Brown, who Ohio State coach Ryan Day emphasized was neck-and-neck with McCord for most of the offseason, only got a taste of the action.
Brown was 1 for 3 and ran once for a total of minus-5 yards. Day said he didn’t play Brown as much as he wanted.
“I didn’t want to risk putting us in a bad situation by continuing to send these people in and out,” Day told reporters. “But when I came in I really wanted to play Devin more, I would love to do that in the future.”
The Buckeyes have home games against Youngstown State and Western Kentucky to sort things out before their trip to No. 13 Notre Dame on Sept. 23.
Alabama doesn’t have that luxury with No. 11 Texas coming to Tuscaloosa next week, but Jalen Milroe might have eased some of Nick Saban’s worries.
The third-year quarterback, who filled in for Bryce Young last season, had three touchdown passes and two TD runs in a loss to Middle Tennessee State.
No. 1 Georgia had the easiest start among the top five teams against Tennessee Martin. Carson Beck, Stetson Bennett’s replacement, was 21 for 31 for 294 yards and a touchdown.
The most impressive performance among the new starting quarterbacks for high-ranked teams came from Happy Valley.
Drew Allar looked a lot like a former five-star recruit, passing for 325 yards and three touchdowns as No. 7 Penn State cruised past West Virginia.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY: Fresno State and Northern Illinois pulled off the sweetest surprises against Power Five opponents. One that comes with a large check. Fresno State won at Purdue in coach Ryan Walters’ debut, a trip for which the Bulldogs received $1.35 million. Northern Illinois beat Boston College in overtime for $1.1 million. Texas State beat Baylor for its first win against a Power Five team and received $375,000 for the two-hour drive to Waco. Quite a debut for Bobcats coach GJ Kinne. … Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz needs the 25th-ranked Hawkeyes to average 25 points per game this season to keep his job. So far he is a little behind. Iowa took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter against Utah State before a very Hawkeye-like performance. … No. 19 Wisconsin first game with a new Air Raid offense: 312 yards rushing and four touchdowns in a win over Buffalo.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
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AP College Football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll