There was nothing bigger on Saturday than Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes.
Their game against TCU in Texas was a much-hyped event that officially kicked off the start of the college football season, and the game did not disappoint.
The 17th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs hosted a Colorado team with a new head coach and a 1-11 2022 season, two things that lack promise for any program.
But this Colorado team had Deion Sanders, an entity that brings a commanding and powerful tidal wave of activity that very few possess.
Sanders’ journey to Boulder is well documented. Three seasons at Jackson State with a 27-6 record, two SWAC titles and two Celebration Bowl appearances. And while the end of his tenure with the Tigers is a hotly debated topic, there’s no disputing the impact he had on the university, the football program, the city and HBCU football overall.
His arrival in Boulder, while rife with fanfare and controversy, also had its memorable moments as well.
From his team introduction, where he informed players that many of them would not be there in the fall, and a reported 90 combined players entering the transfer portal/transferring to Colorado, to a sold-out spring football game of over 47,000 fans, hundreds of thousands in new revenue, a reunion with the Big 12 and a media frenzy that swarmed the campus, the Coach Prime train had officially arrived in Boulder with every car in tow.
Couple that with Sanders’ big personality, and there’s no wondering why Fox Sports was gassed up to broadcast Saturday afternoon’s big game.
Yet questions still lingered.
Could Deion really lead an FBS program?
Was his son, Shedeur Sanders, truly talented enough to play at this level?
Could Colorado compete with last year’s CFP runner-up?
Was Deion Sanders really worth the hype?
At around 3:45 pm EST yesterday afternoon, the answer to all of those questions was a resounding “yes.”
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