The man who hired Deion Sanders to lead the University of Colorado’s football team is set to step down.
Colorado athletic director Rick George announced Thursday he will be leaving his position at the end of the academic year. He will be staying with the university in a fundraising advisory role.
“After considerable thought and discussions with my family dating back to last spring, I have decided it is time for new leadership to guide the department,” George said in a statement.
“I look forward to doing everything I can to ensure a smooth transition. I also wanted to time my announcement so that I could support Coach Prime and our football team this season, which I’m looking forward to continuing in my new role.”
Deion Sanders, CUs new head football coach, and athletic director Rick George, right, chat in the Arrow Touchdown Club during a news conference Dec. 4, 2022, in Boulder, Colo.(Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
George has been Colorado’s AD since 2013 and made his biggest move in 2022 when he hired Sanders. Sanders led the Buffaloes to a bowl game appearance in 2024 but will not make a bowl game and will finish with a losing record for the second time in three seasons after a loss to West Virginia Saturday.
Colorado is 16-19 since Sanders took over, including 3-7 this season.
“This is not who we are. We’re better than this, and they deserve better than this. I want better than this. I feel like I coach better than this. I feel like we got players that are so much better than what the production is that we’re putting out,” Sanders said after Saturday’s loss to West Virginia.
Colorado Buffaloes athletic director Rick George, left, and head coach Deion Sanders arrive at Autzen Stadium before the game against the Oregon Ducks Sept. 23, 2023. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
“So, then, you got to identify the coaches. That’s us, and that starts with me because I feel like we got the nucleus inside the locker room that we should be getting it done. I don’t think we played a team that’s this athletically and physically better than us. I really don’t, and I’ll stand on that.”
George expressed confidence in Sanders earlier last week.
“I’m proud of Coach Prime. It’s been a tough year what he’s been through. He’s been a trooper, been working hard, motivating. He’s doing the things I want him to do as coach. We just gotta win more FB games,” George told reporters.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before a game against TCU Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas.(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
In July, Sanders announced doctors had removed his bladder after the discovery of a tumor.
Sanders said there has been no evidence of cancer since the surgery.
Doctors said a section of Sanders’ intestine was reconstructed to function as a bladder. Sanders faced questions about whether he’d be up for coaching after his health scare, but he remains steadfast in his commitment to Colorado.
Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — If Saturday in Morgantown was an audition, Julian Lewis passed.
And passed.
And passed.
Ju Ju looked past open receivers. He looked ready to turtle whenever West Virginia sent the house. But he also looked like Shedeur Sanders out there at times, didn’t he?
Especially when dropping ball after ball in the bucket for CU wide receiver Omarion Miller.
The Buffs dropped their third game in a row at Milan Puskar Stadium, falling 29-22 against the Mountaineers and slipping to 3-7 on a lost season.
Yet it was the most fun the Buffs have been in what, a month? For the first time in what feels like forever, we saw snippets of last fall’s passing game. We saw the deep ball and the vertical passing game that scared the Big 12 half to death.
2024: Shedeur to Travis Hunter.
2025: Ju Ju to Omarion.
Sanders said earlier this week that his decision to start Lewis, a true freshman, at quarterback was guided by “common sense.”
Hindsight is 20/20, especially when a year goes off the rails. But what took so long?
Coach Prime should’ve listened to his common sense sooner.
While senior Kaidon Salter offered zero juice and minimal downfield threat at QB1, Lewis walked into coal country and looked the part. The Mountaineers blitzed from the left. They blitzed from the right. At one point, they even pulled out a piece of Ju Ju’s hair. Kid hung tough: 22 completions on 35 attempts for 299 yards and two touchdowns.
Lewis to Miler was the combo CU has been waiting for all year. The chemistry was undeniable. The combo was almost unguardable: Miller finished with six catches for 131 receiving yards and a score.
Ju Ju was at his strongest rolling and throwing to his left, hitting Miller for a 43-yard rainbow early, then Sincere Brown (19 yards) and Joseph Williams (13 yards) on CU’s second drive of the second quarter.
And yes, some context applies here, too. West Virginia’s defense going into the weekend ranked last in the Big 12 in opponent passer rating (160.25) and 14th in the league in passing yards allowed per game (270.8). It was not unlike debuting a rookie hitter against the 2025 Rockies at Coors Field — a soft landing, a chance to build numbers and confidence.
Still, you could see that confidence growing in real time. On the CU drive that ended the third quarter and opened the fourth, the freshman faced second-and-7 from the West Virginia 20. He scanned quickly, feeling the pocket constricting to his left and his right. It was the kind of bang-bang play that would’ve been a sure-fire sack earlier in the game, never mind earlier in the season. Lewis stepped up in the pocket and took off for a 3-yard gain, giving CU a third-and-4 at the home 17. CU eventually got a 35-yard field goal from Alejandro Mata to pull the Buffs to within 22-19 with 14:51 left to play in the tilt.
Even more impressive was the fact that Lewis found himself working from behind the ‘8’ ball from the start. Especially with two new blockers on the outside, as left tackle Jordan Seaton watched the game in sweats while wearing a walking boot on his right ankle.
It didn’t take long to show.
Lewis was sacked twice in the first quarter and four times in the opening half. The first 30 minutes had the disjointed, stop-start look of two freshmen quarterbacks facing off, struggling to find their respective rhythms early.
Yet in the end, as auditions go, Lewis passed with almost flying colors. After the Utah and Arizona debacles, CU fans have been looking for a reason to stay invested. Ju Ju was worth the wait. But only if you can figure out a way to keep him.
Five-star freshman quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis has been handed the reins to the Colorado offense.
On Tuesday, CU head coach Deion Sanders confirmed that Lewis will make his first career start when the Buffs play at West Virginia on Saturday (10 a.m. MT, TNT).
Asked the reason for the change, Sanders said, “Common sense.”
Fifth-year senior Kaidon Salter has started eight of the first nine games for the Buffs (3-6, 1-5 Big 12), but has struggled in the last two weeks.
Lewis came off the bench during Saturday’s 52-17 loss to Arizona and threw his first career touchdown. Lewis also left the game early with an apparent hand injury, but Sanders said Lewis is ready to go.
“He’s good,” Sanders said. “He’s throwing the heck out of the ball.”
BOULDER — Leave it to Deion Sanders to refer to a Brazilian butt lift when trying to explain how his team got its (bleep) kicked last weekend.
He was citing society’s obsession with instant gratification — pizza with a phone call, dinner dashed to our doorstep. You know, how nobody has patience anymore.
It is fair after watching what unfolded Saturday night if that patience is starting to wear thin with Coach Prime.
He was the most celebrated hire in school history. He made CU relevant, attracting TV networks to the games, NFL Hall of Famers to the sidelines.
Three years into this experiment, the reality no longer matches the hype. The Buffs are a laughingstock again.
And let’s be honest, in the current college landscape, coaches making $10.8 million per year don’t get the luxury of rebuilding seasons or failing to qualify for a bowl — even a bad one. CU requires victories in its final three games at West Virginia, against Arizona State and on the road versus Kansas State to be eligible for the postseason.
Good luck.
Arizona mauled the Buffs, 52-17, on a chilly night before 48,223 fans at Folsom Field. The first smattering of boos cascaded down after CU’s second offensive play. Half of those in attendance never wandered back to their seats after halftime.
It is getting harder to see the whippings as an aberration. When a team gets outscored 81-7 in the first half in back-to-back weeks, it seems like what is happening on the field is a symptom of larger dysfunction. The Buffs have one conference win. Only Oklahoma State, which canned legendary coach Mike Gundy in September, is worse.
Coach Prime handpicked this coaching staff and this overhauled roster. And the Buffs have done nothing well over the past two games. They fall behind, they miss tackles, they turn the ball over, and they lack discipline, which spawns visible anger and on-field arguments.
“Don’t attack the players, come at me. Don’t attack the coordinators, come at me,” Sanders said, opening his news conference with a directive and announcing no players would be made available to talk.
OK? So what went wrong?
“I have no idea,” Sanders said, before hinting he was holding back his thoughts. “If I knew where the disconnect was, I would tell you.”
At halftime, CU trailed by 31 and had more penalties (nine) than points (seven).
A loss like this, it goes looking for people to blame, and it does not go wanting. The only hard part is where to start. A sequence in the second quarter captured problems that go far beyond the personnel to the leadership of the program.
Quarterback Kaidon Salter, who was mercifully benched, delivered a 75-yard scoring strike to Sincere Brown when CU still had hope. The touchdown, and assumed point after, would have cut the deficit to 24-14. But a scan of the field showed as much yellow as black and gold.
Omarion Miller was ruled an ineligible receiver downfield, suggesting he lined up wrong since, well, he is a receiver. How does that happen?
Worse, the Buffs were pushed back another 15 yards for offensive lineman Yahya Attia “brandishing a weapon” while taunting an Arizona player. Finger guns? Really?
Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey runs for a touchdown after catching a pass as Colorado defensive end Arden Walker pursues in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The offense was terrible, collecting 117 yards in the first half while receiving a Bronx cheer when it made its initial first down.
Coordinator Pat Shurmur has been something less than competent for years, so we really should not start the finger-pointing there.
What about Salter? He has been a disappointment since the season opener and stayed true to form. As did backup Ryan Staub, whose first two passes were interceptions.
Those who stuck around in the second half witnessed five-star prospect Julian Lewis connect on a 59-yard strike to Miller for the first touchdown of his career. But, even that created questions — namely, is he going to play the final three games and burn his redshirt season? If so, why?
“Common sense,” Sanders said. “I don’t know his thought process or his parents’. I just can control what we can control. I am for the kids. If (a redshirt) is what he wants, that is what he will get.”
Defensive boss Robert Livingston must be held accountable for his unit’s shortcomings. He lacks beef up front, a trademark of all of the teams under Coach Prime, leaving CU susceptible to any team that likes to run the ball. But the poor tackling, the lack of physicality, the bad angles, the blown assignments, remain jarring.
All of the improvement Livingston fostered last season seemed like a long time ago when Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita stepped up into a pressure-free pocket and found Javin Whatley streaking wide open for a touchdown with 21 seconds left in the half. The referee on the goal line shrugged and slowly raised his arms in the air, unsure if he was inbounds. It is always best to assume the worst against this defense.
No, this loss wasn’t the fault of Shurmur, Livingston, Salter, Staub, or any forgettable defender. It is on the man who hired them, recruited them and coaches them.
Sanders talks about practice more than Allen Iverson. He promised things would change after getting walloped 53-7 by Utah. He was right. The Buffs got worse.
Sanders brought in the latest gold jacket to campus this week with Ray Lewis questioning the players — “If you guys don’t believe in each other, how do you win?” — and pleading for them to improve communication and take their preparation seriously.
Lewis was not wrong. But eventually, the message is just background noise in a lost season.
Colorado safety John Slaughter, left, upends Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita after a short gain in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The sobering truth is that these are not the good old days — like 2024, when Coach Prime could stack the roster with skill players, notably his son Shedeur and Heisman Trophy-winner Travis Hunter, and deliver a winning record.
Without generational talent on offense, the details become amplified. College has become the NFL with the money paid to players and coaches.
You cannot miss on evaluations, especially at quarterback, running back and the offensive line. Prime gets guys who want to work and play for him. But what is he doing for them in terms of Xs and Os?
Coaching matters. Schemes matter. Improving during the week is non-negotiable.
“I don’t doubt me,” Sanders said. “Or my confidence level in doing the job.”
The Buffs stink right now. And it is not just on the players and assistants.
Coach Prime has to own this mess, or there is no reason to believe it will get fixed.
The last time we saw the Colorado Buffaloes on the football field, they upset the Iowa State Cyclones on Oct. 11. It was a huge win for Deion Sanders’ squad, which improved to 3-4 on the season.
While Colorado has certainly been struggling as a whole in its first year after losing both Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to the NFL Draft, it at least put together a feel-good win heading into its first bye week.
Now, the Buffaloes are preparing to face a tough Utah Utes ballclub this Saturday, but Deion isn’t happy. Why? Some of his players did not return from the bye week in time for the team’s first practice.
“You got to get back Sunday, and a couple of guys didn’t make it,” Sanders said on the Colorado Football Coaches Show. “There’s consequences to it. You’re gonna see those consequences. You’re gonna say, ‘I wonder why?’ That’s why.”
Sanders didn’t specify which players violated his rule, but it’s clear that they will have to deal with him personally.
Colorado hired Sanders as head coach heading into the 2023 campaign. The Buffaloes went 4-8 in his debut, but last year, Sanders bounced back with a strong 9-4 season that ended in a blowout loss to BYU in the Alamo Bowl.
Expectations were not nearly as high for Colorado going into 2025, thanks to all of the talent it lost via the draft, but based on how good of a job Sanders did as coach in Year 2, people were careful not to doubt the team in Boulder.
But things have proven to be difficult for the Buffaloes thus far this year. The win over Iowa State was certainly impressive, but their victories over Delaware and Wyoming were hardly moving.
Colorado will face a pretty stiff test against Utah this weekend. The Buffaloes still have a chance to qualify for a bowl game, but they’ll really have to turn it up a notch in the closing stretch of the regular season. Of course, Sanders’ players will all have to be on board for that to happen. Not showing up out of the bye week runs contrary to that.
With their season seemingly on the line this past weekend, Colorado football players took inspiration from an old saying.
“Our pastor gave a great message (Friday) night,” CU linebacker Jeremiah Brown said after a 24-17 win against then-No. 22 Iowa State on Saturday at Folsom Field. “He talked about pressure and how you respond to it. He talked about how pressure makes diamonds.
“The team, we all rallied behind that, and boy, the unity was great last night. We all just believed, so that was a great message.”
CU (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) took the pressure that had been building through the first half of the season and put together its most complete effort in beating Iowa State.
Throughout a 2-4 start, the Buffs lost close games to three quality opponents (Georgia Tech, BYU and TCU), failing to hold late leads.
Saturday was a similar test and the Buffs passed it finally. It was the type of performance that could be a springboard into the final five games, starting with an Oct. 25 trip to No. 23 Utah.
“I hate to say it’s one win that can turn it around,” CU head coach Deion Sanders said. “We should have been winning, and we’re still upset with that. The locker room has a different vibe today, and it’s a different challenge given at the conclusion of the matter, but we’re better than what our record says.”
Colorado wide receiver Quentin Gibson, center, takes a kick return Saturday. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
No question the Buffs lament missed opportunities in previous games, but there was some pressure alleviated with how they finished Saturday’s game. Trailing 17-14 midway through the third quarter, the Buffs outscored the Cyclones 10-0 the rest of the way.
“We played really good as a team this week,” quarterback Kaidon Salter said. “Just the rough season we’ve been having, and we got a bye week next week. It’s way better to sit going into a bye week with a win instead of a loss, and just having that on your mind.
“I just felt like we went out there and we executed the game plan. We can always get better, but a win is a win, and I’m just excited that we got this win.”
CU is off this week and will no doubt use the down time for players to get healthy. The confidence it gained Saturday will help, however.
“That game just instilled a lot more hope into us, especially going out there and winning versus a top 25 team to show that we can,” Brown said. “We’re always close. With good teams, we’re always close with, but we never finish. Today showed that we can finish, and the team will take that into the bye week, and we’ll keep pushing forward.”
Right guard Zy Crisler agreed, feeling this could be the type of result that turns the tide for the Buffs.
“It could be. It will be,” Crisler said. “We’re gonna take this bye week, recover and try to get everybody back. And next we’re gonna try to go 1-0.”
CU, of course, has a long way to go. To reach bowl eligibility, the Buffs have to go 3-2 down the stretch, with a schedule that includes not only Utah (5-1), but Arizona (4-2), Arizona State (4-2) and a Kansas State team (3-4) that has four losses by a combined 13 points and is a last-second field goal away from a three-game win streak. The Buffs can’t count a trip to West Virginia (2-4) as an easy one, either.
Saturday’s win was much-needed and it certainly changed the mood in the locker room, but Sanders knows his team can’t rest on this one.
“We should have been doing that the last four weeks,” he said. “We shouldn’t be sitting up here with a plethora of losses. We should be sitting up here with a steering wheel in the driver’s seat talking like a boss right now. That’s how we should be.
“Unfortunately, we hadn’t been getting it together like we did today. But thank God we did, and hopefully today is the genesis of us getting things going the right direction, and truly believing that we can.”
Lots of them, actually. If we’ve learned anything about CU recruiting in the Deion Sanders Era, it’s that if Coach Prime wants someone — like, really, really, really wants them — he gets them.
Meanwhile, Coach Prime’s health concerns are mounting. And the Buffs have played three QBs in six games because, as the old adage goes, they don’t really have one. Not one who can sling it consistently at a Big 12 level, at any rate.
After Kaidon Salter just tossed three interceptions at TCU, Ju Ju is the people’s choice again.
Build for the future!
The season’s already lost!
What’s the difference between 4-8 and 2-10?
If we don’t play Ju Ju this fall, we’ll lose him to the transfer portal! And that would be a tragedy!
Recruiting, at its core, is about salesmanship. Nobody sells — themselves, their school, a product, the future — the way Coach Prime sells. Charmers are charmers for life.
Ask yourself this, too: If Lewis is that hot, why hasn’t he beaten out the two guys who’ve been driving you crazy?
You’ve watched Salter for five games. You’ve watched backup Ryan Staub for two.
As Coach Prime points out, he sees what you saw.
Yet when asked about Ju Ju’s progress on Tuesday, Sanders said this, and bluntly:
We kid, we kid. But the hesitation, given precedent, is more than curious, isn’t it?
After all, Coach Prime has made a point of playing freshmen who earned his trust early. Seaton. Micah Welch. Omarion Miller. Dre’Lon Miller.
Lewis, though?
Not so much. Not yet, anyway.
“I mean, he’s young, and you can’t throw everything at him,” Sanders explained after playing Lewis for two rocky series vs. Delaware last month. “So you don’t want to do that. You don’t want him to feel like he failed.
“So you’ve got to proceed with — some guys want you to just throw him in there, and I’m too protective. I mean, I love the kid and I want the kid to be successful, so we’re very protective on what we do with him and what we can do with him and really how we call things with him. We want him to be in a situation to excel.”
Again, he sees what you see. He sees a young man who only turned 18 two-and-a-half weeks ago. And it doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see a QB who isn’t quite ready yet.
Although …
“I’ve never sat on the bench and said, ‘Whoa, I learned a lot today.’”
“Who learns sitting on the bench?” Coach Prime continued. “Who does that?”
Meanwhile, in BoCo, Lewis is … sitting on the bench.
Ju Ju sure as heck didn’t come here for that. He didn’t blow off his senior year of high school to watch the Buffs fold in the second half, week after week.
“Ju Ju was in there with a lot of rookies and freshmen, so to speak,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said after the Delaware game. “And we believe in playing freshmen.”
Just not this one, apparently.
Still, the Buffs have a bye week coming up after the Cyclones visit. If there’s ever a time to change horses, that’s probably it.
Deion Sanders’ second appearance in Fort Worth as the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes was nothing like his first, and the man who likes to say “We comin’” left town with his 16th defeat since he arrived in Boulder.
The Colorado Buffaloes are now 15-16 under Deion, and currently not an average team.
Like a few other games they’ve played this season, the Buffaloes had a big lead on Saturday night against TCU and blew it to lose 35-21.
(By the way: To all of those who bet TCU to cover on Saturday, thank your God repeatedly. TCU faced a fourth-and-1 with 26 seconds remaining at the Colorado 21, and quarterback Josh Hoover’s pass into the end zone was narrowly caught by receiver Eric McAlister for a brutal backdoor cover of a 13.5-point line.)
Colorado is now 2-4, and in this era of big money coaches, Deion has no choice but to wear this one. Typically, that’s not his strength.
“We gotta’ do a better job,” Deion said after the game. “I’m racking my brain trying to figure this out.”
Although he was sitting in the same chair, in the same spot, Deion sounded nothing like the man who was fearlessly full of it, and himself, after Colorado defeated TCU by three points on Sept. 2, 2023, in front of a stadium-record crowd of 53,294.
On that afternoon, and for the next three weeks, Deion was the culture-changing phenom. Since then, he’s just another head coach trying to figure it out.
Since then, he’s just another head coach who is learning that winning at Colorado is one of the harder tasks in major college football. This job has chewed up plenty of good men before he arrived.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders yells on the sidelines in the first half against TCU on Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Christopher Torres ctorres@star-telegram.com
All of the electricity, vibes and crash-the-establishment momentum that began when Deion smacked TCU in his first game as Colorado’s coach have evaporated behind nothing but losses. Losses that have made all of those viral clips of Deion reinventing the profession look like what they are — talk.
Colorado on 3-6 skid
As a talker, this is a brilliant person who commands an audience and a camera as well as any man who has ever been a head coach. As a head coach, you are your record. That’s the job.
After starting the 2024 season 8-2, Colorado is 3-6 in its past nine games. Four of those defeats are by double-digit margins.
And he is 1-8 at Colorado against ranked opponents. The one win? At TCU in 2023, a team that ended the season with a losing record and did not qualify for a bowl.
On Saturday night he did not sound like the brash man who had the benefit of his son, Shedeur, at quarterback and future Heisman Trophy-winning receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter on his team. On Saturday night, Deion was your standard frustrated head coach who is trying to get an OK team to perform above its head.
“Mentality and the attitude. But the thing about it, if I’m tolerating it, it means I’m a part of it,” he said. “I have to do a better job of putting a stop to it when I see it.”
TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, left, and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders embrace after the game Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Christopher Torres ctorres@star-telegram.com
On Saturday night, Colorado led 14-0 late in the second quarter before it all went to hell in a barrage of big, and dumb, plays.
“It starts in practice. It’s frustrating because I’m seeing what you’re seeing,” said the resident of Prosper.
That’s right; Deion does not live in Boulder full time. He still lives much of the year in Prosper. Because he can.
“It’s no disrespect to TCU, their quarterback made plays, but I felt like we were the better team,” he said.
Turnovers killed Colorado vs. TCU
Colorado may have been better than TCU, but the 4-0 turnover margin will kill that every day.
Colorado had plenty of chances to beat TCU, but when the game had to be won, Deion’s team could not do it.
“I’m not targeting my coaching staff; we need to see more out of me as well,” Sanders said. “We get to those moments, and we seem to faint instead of overcoming that type of adversity.”
There was no one, or two, specific moments where anyone could say that Deion lost the game for his team.
This was a team loss. Because his team isn’t that good. It’s not bad, but it’s not good. And this team, and staff, are entirely his.
At 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12, whatever the school and the team hoped for this season is effectively gone. The goal now is to reach any bowl, and avoid a second losing record in three years under Deion.
Deion is correct in that win or lose people will talk about Colorado. But the more CU loses, the more the talk will be a narrative that he won’t like. Because that’s college football.
FORT WORTH, Texas – In addition to the pain of another defeat, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is dealing with more pain physically.
During CU’s 35-21 loss to TCU on Saturday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium, Sanders took his left shoe off for several minutes in the second half because he said his foot was throbbing. He was also walking with a noticeable limp.
“I think I got more blood clots,” Sanders said after the game. “That’s out of the bag, right? I think I got more blood clots. It don’t make sense. I’m hurting like crazy.”
Sanders also complained of a throbbing foot when he sat down for his weekly press conference in Boulder on Tuesday.
“I’ve got a doctor appointment Monday to see what time it is,” he said Saturday night. “So that’s what’s going on. I’m not getting blood to my leg; that’s why my leg is throbbing. Sorry to get that out, but thank you for noticing.”
A Pro Football Hall of Famer now in his third season as CU’s head coach, Sanders, 58, has battled through numerous health issues in recent years, including being diagnosed with bladder cancer on April 14.
Sanders had surgery on May 9 to remove his bladder and the cancer and have a new one created with his small intestine.
Sanders’ serious health issues go back to his time as Jackson State’s head coach in 2021. He had several surgeries that fall, including having two toes amputated on his left foot.
In the summer of 2023, prior to his first season at CU, he had two surgeries to fix blood clots, which improved his mobility. He has had 14 surgeries since 2021.
CU trainer Lauren Askevold, who has been by Sanders’ side since Jackson State, said in July that Sanders has an annual “CT scan of his vascular pattern to make sure blood clots are away,” adding that a scan in the spring “turned out really great from the vascular side.”
That scan did reveal the tumor in Sanders’ bladder, however. And, now it’s possible he is dealing with more vascular issues.
After the game, however, he was more focused on the pain of a second straight loss.
“I appreciate that,” he said when a reporter wished him good health. “Right now, this game is very important to me, and I’m not happy with where we’re executing this game.”
At a team meeting on Tuesday morning, Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders had a simple question for his players.
“Are you underachieving or overachieving?” Sanders asked his players.
“There’s only one answer or the other,” he said.
Individually, there are some players who could answer that question differently, but as a collective unit, the answer is fairly easy. At 2-3 (0-2 Big 12), CU hasn’t met the expectations it had coming into this season, but hopes to turn that around with a visit to TCU (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday (5:30 p.m., Fox).
Why the Buffs aren’t playing to their potential is an answer Sanders is still trying to solve.
“If I had that answer, man, it’d be worth a lot of money, because I think a multitude of us coaches are asking that same question,” he said. “We know what we need to do. We just gotta do it. We know exactly what we need to do. We just gotta do it. It’s not a mystery.”
CU enters this week coming off a 24-21 loss to then-No. 25 BYU (now No. 23). It was the second one-score loss this season to a top-25 opponent. In the opener, CU lost 27-20 to unranked Georgia Tech, which is now 5-0 and ranked No. 17.
“I feel like we have a pretty darn good football team, even though the record don’t display that,” Sanders said. “Two games to ranked opponents by 10 points in total makes us think, ‘Darn, a play here and play there, we get it going.’”
Offensively, particularly in the Georgia Tech and BYU games, the Buffs haven’t come up with enough key plays at key moments.
Against Georgia Tech, quarterback Kaidon Salter led the Buffs to a quick 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. The Buffs found the end zone just one more time in the last 57 minutes and failed on two crucial drives late in the game.
Against BYU, Salter and the offense were impressive in building a 14-0 lead less than 10 minutes in. In the last 50 minutes, CU scored seven points, and managed just 19 total yards in its last three possessions – all with a chance to win or tie the game.
“I want them to play like their life is on the line, like their careers are on the line, like the payment for a car is on the line, the payment for a home is on the line, like they have children depending on them, and some do,” Sanders said of his message to the offense this week. “I just want them to play with full intensity and passion. And when you walk off that field, you look back and say, ‘I gave my all.’ That’s all any coach wants. That’s all I desire.”
That same message could apply to the defense, which has had some good moments, but not enough. BYU had its lowest point total of the season against CU, while Georgia Tech had his second-lowest against the Buffs. But both teams put together fourth quarter drives to win the game.
CU’s also been vulnerable to giving up big plays to the opposition.
Sanders said he’s pleased with the defensive line, but added, “We’ve just got to play better at the linebacker position and the secondary. We got to play better.”
While players are underachieving, Sanders pointed the finger at himself, too.
“I am as well, because I’m part of it,” he said, adding that he needs to be more demanding. “That’s what I’ve been the last two weeks, more demanding of what I want to see. I’m going to see what I want to see. We’re going to do it over and over and over until I see it.”
That goes for practice, and Sanders hopes that goes for game day, too, because he still believes the Buffs have potential to get more positive results going forward.
“No one could have told me we’d be sitting where I’m sitting right now with the record that we possess, because of the talent that we have inside that locker room,” he said. “But I’ve learned that talent just don’t win games alone. It takes heart, it takes determination, it takes that dawg, it takes the knowledge, it takes the preparation, that want-to and that desire. I will take that any day over talent.”
Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes were hoping to win their second straight game and move to 2-1 on the season when they took on the Houston Cougars on Friday night.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Sanders’ squad didn’t come close to accomplish their goal.
Not only did Colorado lose the game, but the team lost it in embarrassing fashion. There were not many positives for the Buffaloes to take away from the game.
When all was said and done, Colorado lost to Houston by a final score of 36-20. Sanders was not happy at all with his teams performance throughout the game.
Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes looks on against the Houston Cougars during the first half at TDECU Stadium on September 12, 2025 in Houston, Texas. Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes looks on against the Houston Cougars during the first half at TDECU Stadium on September 12, 2025 in Houston, Texas. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images
Following the game, Sanders spoke out with some brutal remarks about his team. While they were brutal, they were 100 percent truthful as well.
“Oh, Lord, thank you. I’m thanking God for not allowing me to say what I want to say,” Sanders said. “It wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. I take full responsibility of the foolishness that went on out there that we tried to name football. We tried to call it football. It wasn’t that. We’ve got to do better in every phase of the game. We’ve got to do better preparing our kids. We’ve got to do better, period.”
He was also asked about his teams struggle, which led to another pointed message from Sanders.
“We’re not struggling. We’re getting our butts kicked. You don’t have to be polite with me. You don’t have to sugarcoat it,” Sanders said.
Sanders is spot on with his comments. Not only are the Buffaloes getting beat, they’re getting embarrassed. After a 1-2 start, their hope of making a run at the College Football Playoff is already gone.
Fans were wondering what could be expected from Colorado after the team lost both Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to the NFL. So far, there hasn’t been much to be excited about for the future.
If the current level of play continues forward, Sanders could become a name on the hot seat. More than likely, the Buffaloes wouldn’t move on from him after one off year, but his seat could get relatively warm.
Next up for Colorado will be a matchup at home against the Wyoming Cowboys on September 20. Sanders will try to have his team better prepared for that game.
For more on the Colorado Buffaloes and all things college football, head to Newsweek Sports.
Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss has always focused on faith, family and football. But after being diagnosed with cancer last year, the Minnesota Vikings great added another “F” to his list of priorities: fight.
Moss, 48, was diagnosed with stage 2 bile duct cancer and revealed in December that he had undergone major surgery to remove the mass. After a six-hour procedure, along with radiation and chemotherapy, the NFL great was finally cancer-free.
NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss during the ESPN “College GameDay” broadcast prior to the start of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels game against the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs at Kenan Stadium on Sept. 1, 2025, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Alex Halloway/Getty Images)
“I was nervous,” Moss said of his reaction when he first learned of his diagnosis during an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“I just think that, when you live your life a certain type of way, you know, eating right, taking care of your health, and all of a sudden you get diagnosed with cancer, it’s kind of like – I was overwhelmed. Just hit with a ton of bricks.”
Moss stepped away from his role as an analyst on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown,” but he made an emotional return just two months later. He credited his wife with helping him continue to fight despite his initial resistance.
Randy Moss broadcasts from the ESPN “Monday Night Football Countdown” set before a game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
“I talk about my faith in the Lord, I talk about how much I love my family, and I talk about the game that I grew up loving at a small age, and that’s football,” he said. “I put one more ‘F’ in that category, and that’s the ‘fight,’ because that’s what I needed to do.”
Moss said he shared the same message with longtime friend and Colorado football coach Deion Sanders after the Dallas Cowboys legend called him and shared that he was struggling with his own cancer diagnosis.
“One thing that my wife told me is, ‘Man, get on out here and let the family love you. They miss you,’ and he did that. And right when he did that, he texted me back a couple of days [later] and told me ‘Thank you,’” an emotional Moss recalled.
Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders speaks about his journey beating bladder cancer during a press conference in the Touchdown Club at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, July 28, 2025. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Sanders revealed in July that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer, and his doctors said that after having his bladder removed, he was cured. In a press conference where he shared his health updates, Sanders recalled his conversations with Moss.
“Randy Moss called me every other day to make sure I was straight,” Sanders said. “Randy Moss prayed for me — he and his wife. Told me what I needed to be doing.”
Former NFL referee Terry McAulay was unhappy with how college football referees utilized the new injury rule in Georgia Tech’s win over Colorado on Friday night.
McAulay pointed to a crucial decision with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter. The Yellow Jackets and Buffaloes were tied at 20 apiece. A Georgia Tech player went down with an injury and medical personnel came out onto the field to check on him. However, Georgia Tech was charged one of their three timeouts because of the stoppage in play.
Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key checks the clock late in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Colorado, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The NCAA made it a point to crack down on players faking injuries. If a player on the field presents as injured after the ball is spotted for the next play, that player’s team will be charged a timeout. If the team doesn’t have any timeouts remaining, a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty would be assessed to the team.
In this instance, McAulay disagreed with Big 12 Conference officials.
“The Big 12 doubles down on being ridiculously over officious regarding the new injury rule. Again, this player was clearly injured at the end of the play, and yet the offense was still charged a TO,” he wrote on X.
Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter looks for the snap in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia Tech, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
“What makes it worse, the Replay official can communicate to the field about timing of the injury and somehow failed to note it was well before the ball was spotted.”
McAulay made the same point during last weekend’s game between Kansas State and Iowa State.
“We already have an example of why I expressed concerns that this rule would unfairly penalize a team that did nothing wrong. This player is clearly injured and yet because he went down after the ball was spotted, they were charged a timeout,” he wrote. “Even worse, it appears he was demonstrating he was injured before the ball was spotted.
Fans congratulate Georgia Tech players after they defeated Colorado in an NCAA college football game, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The NCAA Football Rules Committee took aim at players feigning injuries to stop the game clock. Additionally, a player must sit out one play even if the team is granted a timeout and may not return until a medical professional approves it.
BOULDER — Is that Byron Leftwich warming up on the sideline?
Ralphie, you didn’t miss much. Take away Shedeur Sanders from a Pat Shurmur offense, and you’re left with a CU attack that, at times, looked like a pencil with no lead.
Friday night’s opener against Georgia Tech had a Baylor 2024 feel. Minus the Baylor ending. After two CU Hail Marys fell incomplete, the Yellow Jackets escaped with a 27-20 win inside a packed Folsom Field.
New Buffs starting quarterback Kaidon Salter will take some flak, but this wasn’t all his burden. No. 3 was as advertised, at least, in that he isn’t Shedeur. Down 20-13 with 9:23 left in the tilt, the Buffs’ transfer QB stepped up in the pocket to elude pressure (which was good), spotted a wide-open Simeon Price near the front right pylon (also good) … and overthrew him by a yard-and-a-half.
Yet he can do this, too. As the pocket collapsed again, forcing another step-up, Salter spotted a lane, tucked the rock, and pinballed his way 7 yards into the end zone to pull the hosts to within an extra point.
As Buffs QB debuts go, No. 3’s was fine, if rough around the edges. Salter sometimes sprinted into danger as often as he ran away from it. Stretching out a play from east to west may buy time against Conference USA defenses. The ones he’s going to see in the Big 12 close too quickly. Pick a lane and get north.
And to the social media peanut gallery calling for 5-star super freshman Julian Lewis, ask yourself this: How many times did Salter have to create an escape route all by himself?
Lewis can move, sure. Not like that. Even if “Ju Ju” has taken steps forward this month, it remains to be seen whether this offensive line’s ready to keep him upright for 60 minutes. Delaware awaits on Sept. 6. If we haven’t seen Lewis on the field by Week 3, fire up the flares.
At the moment, the Buffs have bigger problems. Unfortunately, CU’s run defense was less what was advertised and more what was feared. The elephant in the room still struggles to stop anybody between the hashmarks.
Yes, the Buffs tightened up late, and thank goodness. Yes, Tech is the Waffle House version of Iowa, a Southern sledgehammer. Yet Georgia Tech also converted on third-and-3-or-less five times in the first three quarters. They converted four of those on the ground, and the other one was a willing surrender on a spiked Haynes King pass to stop the clock.
If Tech wasn’t busy Nebrasking the heck outta that first half with three consecutive turnovers, the Buffs would’ve been hurting deep.
The Jackets were outrushing CU two minutes into the second quarter by a count of 112-33. Tech was getting 6.3 yards per pop on its first 18 carries.
And yet … the hosts somehow still led 7-3, spitting in the face of the football gods and the pop-up showers.
In hindsight, the Buffs couldn’t have scripted the first five minutes any better, could they? Tech’s Malik Rutherford got loose for a 13-yard gain on the first play of the evening. On the second, King butterfingered the ball to CU linebacker Martavious French at the Buffs’ 38. Five plays and three Micah Welch runs later, Salter found DeKalon Taylor in the end zone for an 8-yard score and a 6-0 CU lead.
Funny thing? Those two plays were pretty much a harbinger for the rest of the Jackets’ first half. The Ramblin’ Wreck alternated between gashing the Buffs on the ground or putting the ball on the turf.
Tech drove past midfield on five of its first six cracks on offense. Tries No. 2 and 3 ended on a fumble recovery by French at the Buffs’ 48 and a pick by D.J. McKinney at the CU 34, respectively. The Jackets turned their last three possessions into 13 points, with kicker Aidan Birr’s 32-yard field goal putting the visitors up 13-10 as the dying seconds of the second quarter expired.
CU got the ball back to start the second half, but the Buffs’ opening salvo fizzled out at midfield.
Two explosive Welch runs set up a second-and-4 at the Tech 47. On third-and-2, Salter kept it on a bootleg and rolled into trouble again, throwing the ball away.
gallWith left tackle Jordan Seaton gesticulating madly at his teammates, the Buffs sent the offense back out on fourth down, only to set up a better punt with a delay-of-game call.
On that one, your guess is as good as ours. Heck, at this point, it might be a lot better than Shurmur’s.
Cooper was at a St. Louis Cardinals game 43 years ago when Green, a speedy return ace who’d recently been turned into a two-way threat at wideout and defensive back, became the first NFL player since 1957 to intercept a pass and catch another in the same game.
“(Green) wasn’t as big as (CU football coach) Deion (Sanders) or Hunter,” the scout sighed. “He only did it for a season, or a season-and-a-half.”
With an old Jim Hart and a young Neil Lomax at quarterback, then-Cards coach Jim Hanifan didn’t mess around when it came to what side of the ball mattered more. Once the coaching staff saw Green, a former track star, rack up 708 receiving yards and lead the Redbirds in touchdown catches (four) while re-learning the position on the fly in 1981, his days as an NFL defensive back were numbered.
The whole experiment worked so well, Roy moved to offense full-time starting in 1982, eventually leading the NFL in touchdown catches in ’83 and in receiving yards in ’84, notching Pro Bowl berths in both seasons.
“There are certain guys you want to throw to, guys you know will hang on to the ball,” Hart told Sports Illustrated in December 1981. “Roy’s one of those guys.”
“He’s got a great head on his shoulder as well. He’s tough. He’s smart,” Dave Syvertsen, Ourlads’ senior draft analyst and scout, said of Hunter, the cornerback/wide receiver whose 5-2 Buffs host 5-2 Cincinnati on Saturday night at Folsom Field. “I think he’s got great contest-catch numbers, too.
“Great possession and ball skills. He has superstar potential.”
Syvertsen grades the junior out as a first-rounder at both wideout and cornerback in the ’25 NFL draft. But like Cooper, he has a feeling front offices will look to pigeonhole Hunter into one side of the ball in order to preserve his long-term health.
And like Roy Green two generations ago, they expect that side to be offense — with a sprinkling of defensive appearances, primarily as a nickel back or a slot corner, peppered in.
“I think he could be a great corner,” Cooper said. “(But) there’s something to be said for guys playing some slot corner and also playing on offense. Deion did it himself.
“I think it’s going to depend on the team. I could see him playing in sub packages on defense, because he’s so skilled … eventually, I think, he will be one or the other. I think receiver is probably where he can make the biggest impact long-term. The jury might be out as to whether he can go two ways initially or one way all the time. Unique, unique player.”
The afternoon after CU hosts the Bearcats, the Carolina Panthers, 1-6 and going nowhere fast, visit the Broncos (4-3) at Empower Field. Tankathon.com’s 2025 NFL mock draft as of Tuesday afternoon pegged Hunter going to the Patriots with the No. 1 overall pick and Buffs quarterback Shedeur Sanders being taken by Carolina with the second selection. Longtime ESPN draftnik Mel Kiper recently ranked Hunter as the No. 1 overall pick on his big board.
For a team that needs everything, including marketable, charismatic stars, Hunter ticks every box. That said, even Buffs icons such as Michael Westbrook, the greatest wideout in CU history, would suggest to Hunter that he lean on offense primarily at the next level.
“I would use him as a wide receiver,” Westbrook told me, echoing the scouts’ sentiments. “I would sparingly put him in (with) nickel packages, dime packages. Anytime they’ve got four wideouts on the field, Travis goes in.”
Defense may win championships, but touchdowns pay the bills. Unlike in Green’s era, limitation on contact with receivers, combined with rules that discourage quarterback hits, have made the NFL more of a passing league than ever.
“(He’s) a top-5 pick,” Cooper said. “Body control, speed. And he’s a great corner. I could see where if a team wanted to use those skills, they could find a way. At least initially.”
As Hunter already knows full well, the league is about making business decisions — and the money for receivers is better than the market for cornerbacks. According to Spotrac.com, the top 6 highest-paid NFL wideouts sport an average cap hit of $25.7 million for 2024, while the top five highest-paid NFL corners average a $19.1 million cap hit.
“If he wanted to become a legit No. 1 receiver on a team, (that franchise) might not want a lot of defensive snaps,” Cooper said. “Even six or seven snaps a game (on defense) might not fit in today’s NFL.”
Some coaching staff may think Hunter is too valuable a receiver to risk on defense, or too valuable a defender to risk getting pummeled on pass routes. Either way, the fare for unicorn rides is about to go up.
On the heels of two of the more riveting weeks of college football in recent memory comes a jam-packed Saturday that features a trio of SEC headliners, including a top-five clash between blue bloods. There’s also multiple rivalry games that feature boots (sort of), and a potential College Football Playoff showcase in Bloomington, Indiana, of all places.
Bless this sport.
Let’s rank the top 10 games of Week 8, starting with honorable mentions and counting down.
Honorable Mention: Oklahoma State at No. 13 BYU, Ohio at Miami (Ohio), Virginia at No. 10 Clemson, Auburn vs No. 19 Missouri, Louisiana at Coastal Carolina, Toledo at NIU, Colorado at Arizona, James Madison at Georgia Southern, UCF at No. 9 Iowa State.
(All point spreads come from BetMGM; click here for live odds. Stream college football on fubo. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)
Let’s give flowers to two teams that have exceeded expectations in the Big 12. Both were projected to finish near the bottom of the conference, but the winner on Saturday will have played its way into the conference title conversation. Arizona State and wrecking-ball running back Cam Skattebo have been proving the doubters wrong for weeks. But the Sun Devils will be without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt due to a rib injury; fifth-year journeyman Jeff Sims will start in his place. The Bearcats and gunslinging transfer QB Brendan Sorsby will try to take advantage of a depleted ASU crossing two time zones for an early kickoff.
Line: Cincinnati -4.5
9. UNLV (5-1) at Oregon State (4-2), 10 p.m., Fubo, The CW
The Rebels rebounded from an overtime loss to Syracuse by hanging a 50-burger on Utah State last week, keeping pace with Boise State in the Mountain West standings. It sets up a massive game in Las Vegas next week against the Broncos that will have huge implications on the conference race and battle for the Group of 5’s spot in the CFP. But a win this Saturday in Corvallis would add a nice bullet point to UNLV’s resume in the meantime. Oregon State, looking to recover from a surprising loss to Nevada, should eventually make for an instructive common opponent between the two. The Beavs play at Boise State next month.
Line: UNLV -7
8. No. 17 Kansas State (5-1) at West Virginia (3-3), 7:30 p.m., Fubo, Fox
There are intriguing matchups involving the Big 12’s three ranked teams this week, including Oklahoma State at No. 13 BYU and UCF at No. 9 Iowa State. But K-State has the most at stake. It is the only of those three ranked squads going on the road, and the only one with a loss. Of the teams in the top five of the Big 12’s preseason poll, the Wildcats are also the only one that hasn’t been a disappointment thus far. A second defeat, however, would quickly put their conference title and CFP hopes on life support, even in the ever-chaotic Big 12. Kansas State can’t afford to stumble in Morgantown against a streaky but resilient West Virginia, in a face-off of two proficient rushing attacks.
Line: Kansas State -3
7. No. 24 Michigan (4-2) at No. 22 Illinois (5-1), 3:30 p.m., Fubo, CBS
A bit surprising for a ranked matchup to be this low on the list — except for the fact that Michigan has one of the worst offenses in college football (and maybe shouldn’t be ranked?). Illinois just needed overtime to beat a terrible Purdue team that scored 40 points second-half points. Still, hat tip to the Illini, who are 5-1 and playing the first ranked matchup at Memorial Stadium since 2000. Illinois will also honor legendary halfback Red Grange — the Galloping Ghost — a century after his epic 402-yard, six-touchdown game against the Wolverines. The Illini will sport throwback uniforms and hand-painted helmets that took 18 months to create.
Line: Michigan -3.5
GO DEEPER
What does Michigan-Illinois mean? Previewing a sneaky big game for Wolverines, Illini
Expect this one to play out differently than the 55-0 shutout that Notre Dame pitched when these teams last met in 2021. Unfortunately, injuries will be a storyline. The Irish lost All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison to a season-ending hip injury, and Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King will be a game-time decision after suffering a knock in last week’s win over North Carolina. If King can’t go, the job will fall to sophomore backup Zach Pyron, who has completed 5 of 7 passes and rushed for four touchdowns in limited action. Either way, the Irish can’t take this one lightly, with a remaining schedule that looks a lot tougher than we all expected, including ranked games against Navy and Army ahead of the regular-season finale at USC.
Line: Notre Dame -12.5
5. Nebraska (5-1) at No. 16 Indiana (6-0), Noon, Fubo, Fox
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Indiana and Curt Cignetti media blitz this week, including this stellar profile of Cignetti by Joe Rexrode. The Hoosiers are basking in the glow of their first 6-0 start since 1967, and rightfully so. They’ve been one of the biggest surprises this season in Year 1 under Cignetti, and have yet to trail through six games. Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff is headed to Bloomington as IU faces Nebraska and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who is acting wise beyond his years. Big-time game featuring a pair of top-10 defenses (and a top-five offense for Indiana). The Huskers, who have lost 25 straight to ranked opponents, will get two cracks in a row at Indiana and then at Ohio State. On the other side, another win for the Hoosiers will shift the chatter from fast start to legit Playoff contender.
It’s the Battle for the Golden Boot, one of the more underappreciated rivalry names and trophies in college football. LSU has won seven of the last eight matchups, but both teams are coming off mammoth victories.
The Tigers won a classic in overtime against Ole Miss despite never leading until the game’s final play, and Arkansas popped the first leak in Tennessee’s balloon a couple of weeks ago. The Razorbacks are better than anticipated — and Sam Pittman may have saved his job — while LSU has clawed back into the top 10 and CFP picture after the season-opening loss to USC. The Tigers will need more consistency out of Garrett Nussmeier to make some noise in the SEC, but his performance at the end of the Ole Miss victory showed how high his ceiling can be.
More top-notch rivalry hardware — and footwear: The Schnellenberger Trophy, which was introduced last season and currently resides with the Cardinals. Battle for the Golden Boots???
The Louisville Sports Commission announces Louisville and Miami will play annually for The Schnellenberger Trophy: “Which features the actual western dress boots, now bronzed, worn by Coach Howard Schnellenberger when he led both programs to national prominence.” pic.twitter.com/khBoFZOpHQ
This game is flying under the radar thanks to a loaded SEC slate, but it should be a fun, high-scoring barnburner. Miami desperately needed a bye after a pair of close calls against Virginia Tech and Cal, but Heisman hopeful Cam Ward and the Hurricanes remain one of 11 unbeaten teams in college football. Louisville ended a two-game skid last Saturday with a win at Virginia, with a top-15 offense (7.2 yards per play) led by quarterback Tyler Shough. Miami has the top offense in FBS at 8.2 yards per play, and Ward leads all FBS quarterbacks in passing yards per game (369.8).
An almost top-10 matchup between two teams that are either national title contenders or complete frauds, depending on which message board thread you read. Either way, the Third Saturday in October should provide some insight, and it’s a critical one as both teams try to avoid a second loss and spiraling fan bases. This is a tough game to handicap: Alabama has a top-10 offense, Tennessee has a top-two defense, but both teams have been mercurial on the field. David Ubben did a nice job digging in on that variability for an anonymous coaching confidential on the game, and Kennington Smith III examined how first-year Alabama head coaches have fared in the Tennessee rivalry.
Line: Alabama -3
GO DEEPER
What’s going on with Alabama and Tennessee? Coaches who faced them weigh in
Praise be: It’s our third top-five showdown of the season. The first two — Georgia vs Alabama and Ohio State vs Oregon — resulted in two of the best games of the year to this point. This is the sixth all-time meeting between Georgia and Texas and first since the 2019 Sugar Bowl.
The Dawgs are underdogs for the first time in the last 50 games (!), and might need a road win over the top-ranked team in the country to preserve their CFP hopes. Texas, meanwhile, has been stellar on both sides of the ball and is arguably in a class of its own right now, though it has yet to face an opponent as good as Georgia. Quinn Ewers did look a tad rusty in his return from injury against Oklahoma last week, so we’ll see if that lingers. But coaches we spoke with for our coaching confidential on the game see Texas having the upper hand.
Another win for the Longhorns would cement them as the clear national title favorite. But if the chaos timeline of this college football season continues, we’ll see a slightly diminished Georgia take down the Horns in Austin, and the top of the sport will officially look as vulnerable as it has in years.
Line: Texas -4.5
GO DEEPER
Coaching confidential: Texas has the edge against Georgia in SEC showdown
Initial observations from the CU Buffs’ 34-7 win over the Arizona Wildcats in Big 12 play at Arizona Stadium.
Paging Sean Payton: An onside kick attempt to start the game? Did Arizona head coach Brent Brennan consult the Broncos’ Sean Payton earlier this week? Bold move, to say the least — if not a very bright one. It was almost as if Brennan knew exactly what was coming down the pike. There was no way the Wildcats’ leaky secondary was coming up with enough stops to win this game … unless special teams could steal an extra possession or two. A weird message to send your team before a ball is even snapped. But at least Brennan is a realist.
Weapons to spare: Who needs a run game when you have Shedeur Sanders and an endless stream of pass-catchers? Certainly not CU against a defense like Arizona’s. Can’t rush the passer? Have problems covering receivers one-on-one or tackling in space? Shedeur and the Buffs will eat you alive, whether it’s third-and-long, third-and-short, or, in the case of the QB’s 14-yard strike to Travis Hunter in the first half, fourth-and-10. So even if the Buffs average 2.3 yards on 22 attempts, as they did in the first half, it’s plenty. They still converted 8 of 11 third downs and put 28 points on the board. By the time everything was said and done, LaJohntay Wester had eight catches for 127 yards. And he’s, what, CU’s third- or fourth-best receiver? Yikes!
Livingston’s stock on rise: Stats may not be kind to the Buffs defense — CU entered Saturday 94th in FBS in yards allowed and 73rd in points allowed — but the eye test says Robert Livingston’s unit is trending up. And it’s happening at the line of scrimmage — an area that was a notable issue last season. In two of the last three games, CU has bottled up one of the nation’s top rushing attacks (UCF, 177 yards) and harassed one of its most productive passers (Arizona’s Noah Fifita) to the tune of seven sacks, CU’s most since posting eight against Iowa State in 2010. The Buffs now have 16 sacks in their last three games.
Heisman watch: This was not a day to worry about Travis Hunter’s Heisman Trophy campaign. With CU’s two-way star clearly not 100% after getting dinged in the Kansas State loss last week, Coach Prime did the smart thing, holding Hunter out over the final two quarters as “preventative measures.” CU already had a 28-7 lead, and Hunter’s mortal stat line (54 snaps, two receptions for 15 yards, one tackle) will soon be a mere footnote as long as he delivers a few more superhuman performances down the stretch. (Spoiler alert: He probably will.)
Extra point
Road warriors: The Buffs have now gone on the road twice in conference and delivered easily the two most complete performances of the Deion Sanders Era. The combined score in those wins at UCF at Arizona? 82-28. Not. Too. Shabby. This is what title contenders do against inferior opponents: They take the crowd out of the game early and never let up. Sure, there were mistakes, including a botched snap in Wildcats territory and a Shedeur Sanders pick inside Arizona’s 20. But unlike last year’s Buffs, those turnovers didn’t even come close to sinking them. A B.J. Green strip-sack erased the former, and a Wildcats three-and-out the latter. With five very winnable games left on the schedule — Cincinnati, at Texas Tech, Utah, at Kansas and Oklahoma State — there is a very real path to the College Football Playoff.
Initial observations from Colorado’s 31-28 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats in a Big 12 showdown in Boulder.
Wildcats gashing: Kansas State’s primary key to victory was running the rock. In the first half alone, junior DJ Giddens trampled the Buffs for 127 yards on 12 carries, good for 10.6 yards a pop. Ex-Buff Dylan Edwards added 17 yards and a TD. Giddens was untacklable at times, and the CU linebackers and secondary had an especially hard time wrapping up in the second and third levels. KSU continued to pound the football and bleed the clock in the second half, starting with nearly an eight-minute TD drive in the third. A Colorado local, Durango graduate and starting right tackle Carver Willis, helped pave the way for an 182-yard rushing night for Giddens.
Hunter, Horn hurt: CU star wideout/cornerback and Heisman Trophy candidate Travis Hunter, who has been central in the Buffs’ 4-1 start coming into Saturday, left the game midway through the second quarter with what ESPN reported as a shoulder injury. Hunter caught a 14-yard pass, but was crunched by KSU safety Daniel Cobbs, and immediately left the game. He didn’t return, and sophomore Colton Hood came on in Hunter’s place on defense (and later picked off K-State). On offense, CU also lost wideout Jimmy Horn Jr. to injury in the first half and Horn didn’t return, either. The absence of those two playmakers, especially Hunter, took some explosiveness out of CU’s offense, even if the Buffs managed to put 28 on the board.
Hood in clutch: No Hunter to play lock-down corner in crunch time? No problem, at least for a moment. Hood came up clutch late in the fourth quarter with an interception and runback that set up CU’s go-ahead touchdown with 3:20 left. On fourth-and-6 at the CU 31-yard line, Avery Johnson’s pass was tipped by Preston Hodge and then corralled by Hood. He ran it back to the KSU 17-yard line, tripping himself up on the grass to come up just short of the pick-six. However, the next drive, Jayce Brown burned Hodge for a 50-yard TD catch.
Shedeur shines: Once again, the CU QB looked like a top draft pick, despite playing without his two top targets in Hunter and Horn. No. 2 completed 16 straight passes across the second and third quarters — a CU record streak — and willed the Buffs back in the game with his arm despite taking some big hits. His lone blemish was an interception on an overthrow, and his final stat line was videogame-esque: 34 of 40 for 338 yards, three touchdowns and a 186.2 rating.
Big sacks: Both team’s defensive lines made noise in the first half, as the Wildcats tallied four sacks for minus-49 yards, while CU’s defense had three sacks for minus-29 yards. Kansas State’s pressure also forced an intentional grounding on CU’s last possession of the half that effectively killed the drive. In the second half, the Wildcats continued to bring the heat, especially as the Buffs all but abandoned the run. KSU had two sacks for minus-25 yards over the final two quarters, finishing with six sacks overall. On a third-quarter sack, KSU defensive end Ryan Davis celebrated with Shedeur Sanders’ signature wristwatch move, holding the pose for a few seconds toward the CU crowd.
KSU QB hurt, returns: The Wildcats also had an injury of their own to dual-threat quarterback, but Johnson’s absence was brief. The sophomore suffered what looked like a side injury on KSU’s opening possession of the second half, following an impressive threaded pass that went for 33 yards to Brown. Senior Ta’Quan Roberson spelled Johnson, who returned to the field later in the drive to throw a one-yard TD pass to Brown that made it a two-score lead. That 16-play, 81-yard drive chewed up more than half the third quarter.
Who’s who: As has become the norm with Buffs games under Coach Prime, an array of stars were on the CU sidelines on Saturday night at Folsom Field. That list included current Nugget Russell Westbrook, retired former Nugget Carmelo Anthony (who rocked a Peter Forsberg Avs jersey), former Wizards star John Wall, current NBA stars Kevin Durant and John Wall, and rapper Cam’ron. Plus, former CU football stars and current NFL receivers Laviska Shenault and Juwann Winfree were also on hand.
“Theirs prevented them from losing the game. Ours won the game.”
With that, he laughed.
“You’ve got to remember who you’re talking to. I’m still Michael Westbrook. I’m still going to talk smack. Even though those are my Buffs.”
He’s loving those 3-1 Buffs, by the way. And he loves wideout LaJohntay Wester’s sliding catch in the rain, the grab that brought Folsom Field to its feet and sent fans outside scurrying back to their seats as time expired.
“Kordell (Stewart) had all the time in the world (in 1994),” Westbrook continued. “Shedeur running was the complete opposite. He’s getting tackled while he releases the ball. It was a stark contrast.
“And (Stewart) is back there waiting for a tip with my 43-inch vertical, just sitting back there waiting. Theirs was a far more difficult play. Ours was very easy. We literally practiced that play every week. Every Friday we practiced that Hail Mary. (Shedeur’s) was a more skilled play, from their perspective.”
Still: Two similar touchdowns, the last one happening three days from the 30th anniversary of the first? Who says the football gods don’t have a sense of humor?
“It’s a huge blessing to have been a part of something like that,” Westbrook continued. “And then (30 years) later, to have something similar transpire … No. 10 throwing the ball in 1994 to No. 10 (Wester) actually catching it in 2024. My last name is Westbrook, his last name is Wester … it’s almost surreal.”
It’s almost poetry. While Shedeur Sanders swung for the fences, Stewart was watching at home, clutching a pitching wedge nervously.
“It’s one of those ‘moments,’ right?” the ex-Buffs QB told me Monday. “I’m like, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’ Mind you, the (FOX Sports) broadcast had just shown my Hail Mary pass from 1994, right before Shedeur threw that pass.
“I don’t know if you call it fate. But history has a chance to repeat itself sometimes, in the same way, in the same capacity. I didn’t jump up. I was just like, ‘Wow, are you freaking kidding me?’ … I had a moment. I just remembered how it was for us.”
It was pandemonium. It was chaos. It was glorious.
Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver LaJohntay Wester (10) and teammate Travis Hunter (12) celebrate Wester’s touchdown to force overtime against the Baylor Bears in the fourth quarter at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. Baylor Bears safety Devyn Bobby (3) walks toward the sideline. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
On Sept. 24, 1994, the unbeaten and seventh-ranked Buffs trailed 26-14 to start the fourth quarter at fellow unbeaten and No. 4 Michigan. Staring at a 26-21 deficit with six seconds left, Stewart, the Buffs QB, had driven CU to its own 36. After a spike stopped the clock, then-Buffs coach Bill McCartney called for “Rocket Left,” in which Westbrook, Blake Anderson and Rae Carruth lined up on the left side of the formation and James Kidd lined up wide right.
The rest is college football history, still regarded as one of the wildest endings of any NCAA contest played over the last 50 years. Stewart dropped back to about his own 27 and fired a deep ball as time expired. The lob had enough juice to carry it past the Michigan 1-yard line, where a mass jump-ball situation ensued.
Anderson tipped the rock high and behind him, where the 6-foot-3 Westbrook, tracking the ball with his eyes, leaped up and cradled it as he rolled to the turf, stunning more than 100,000 Wolverines faithful in the process. Ralphie 27, Big Blue 26.
“There are no flags on the field,” the legendary Keith Jackson said on the broadcast. “Only despair for the Maize and Blue.”
Westbrook’s No. 1 Hail Mary was always going to be a beast to beat. Especially given the context. And the opponent. And the beatified building it silenced.
“The one thing I was jealous of, was when (Wester) caught the ball, the reaction was a complete, stark contrast (to mine),” Westbrook reflected. “It was complete and total, utter silence, versus the decibels being high enough (at Folsom) to pop your eardrums. And it was so awesome to see that.
“I was jealous and I was very proud of them. And very happy.”
“(The Miracle at Michigan) was on the road, we overcame the adversity of 100,000 fans, we just overcame 10 penalties. We came back and won,” Westbrook continued. “(The ’24 Buffs) came back and won, too …
“It was a great play. I’m not going to take that away from them. To put that ball where (Sanders) put it and for (Wester) to catch it like he caught it, that was a better play. That play was better than our play.”
Another laugh.
“But that play, in the grand scheme of things, was not a better play.”
Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver LaJohntay Wester (10) makes a catch in the end zone for a touchdown against Baylor Bears safety Corey Gordon Jr. (24) to force overtime, after the extra point, in the fourth quarter at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. The Buffs went on to win 38-31. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
