Deion Sanders’ Colorado is the most entertaining team in college football history

Every Saturday night, Ari Wasserman and David Ubben react to the weekend’s slate of games on “Until Saturday.” On Mondays, they revisit the biggest takeaway from Saturday night’s instant reaction. This week: Ari reacts to the biggest thing on Sunday: Will FSU change how we look at which teams are national championship contenders? Elsewhere, Ubben argues that Colorado could be the most entertaining college football team … in history.

FORT WORTH, Texas — I don’t know where Colorado goes from here.

It does still have a brutal schedule in a league where every member won its opener for the first time since 1932.

But while Deion Sanders was prodding ESPN’s Ed Werder to profess his belief in the postgame glow Saturday of Sanders’ proudest victory, Werder asked a good question.

“Do you believe?” Sanders asked.

“In what?” Werder replied.

I, for one, believe Colorado’s 2023 football team is the most entertaining team in the history of college football.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this team on the field. Players and coaches aren’t aiming for a bowl game or improvement. They’ve been explicit publicly and privately all offseason: They are intent on competing for championships in year one. A giant photo of the national title trophy adorns the wall of the players’ lounge.

But this team was a mystery surrounded by a level of skepticism and interest I’ve never seen in this sport. The Buffaloes came up in conversations I had with coaches all offseason. And very few coaches or people within the sport I spoke with took them seriously or believed they would be competent.

But any idea Colorado would be college football’s Bishop Sycamore went out the window when it forced TCU into a three-and-out on its opening drive and proceeded to rip 75 yards down the field for an easy touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead.

During the game, I got a text from a Pac-12 coach.

“Boy, was I wrong,” it read.

A lot of people were. This team that upset TCU is clearly competent. Time will tell how good it is.

But I already know how entertaining it is. That’s been the case all offseason, of which I’ve spent a ton of time chronicling this unprecedented exercise that is looking like it will change college football forever. 

As the summer of realignment pounded over and over into college football fans, this sport is, above all else, a valuable television show. Colorado seems to be the only team in America that understands this and acts accordingly.

Sanders’ natural state with a microphone in his face is pragmatic provocateur. “I don’t care about culture. I don’t care. I don’t even care if they like each other, I want to win.” He offers frequent soliloquies as fit for a pro wrestling ring as a postgame news conference. Saturday’s news conference, with a series of moments that went viral, rated as the rule more than the exception.

At Colorado’s media day on Aug. 11, he prodded one reporter about a tweet and cut off another’s question about backup quarterbacks with laughter after the reporter began the question with, “Obviously, you’re set with Shedeur,” referring to Sanders’ son and Colorado’s starting quarterback.

“Well, who do you want me to play? The kid is pretty good,” Sanders said. “You can’t present the thing like that. ‘Obviously, you’re set.’ You know how that sounds? That doesn’t sound good. You gotta package that thing a little different. It’s like I’m playing favorites because he’s my son.”

After Colorado’s spring game, Sanders prodded another reporter who asked about his health. Sanders had two toes amputated in 2021 and required multiple offseason surgeries.

“I like when you guys play like you care about my health and then I get to the real questions,” he said with a laugh.

Sanders doesn’t operate by any of the same accepted norms his coaching peers do.

I’ve never heard a coach campaign for a player to be a front-runner for the Heisman after one game. Sanders went out of his way to do so on Saturday, and though unorthodox, his point about cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders was fair.

“Who did what they did today?” he asked rhetorically.

If there are slights, perceived or real, they’re hardly ever internalized. He’s going to voice his displeasure, either in the moment or when he unloads a series of kept receipts after an epic “I told you so” performance like his team unleashed on Saturday.

Reality is, Sanders’ news conferences may draw as many eyeballs as the games themselves if he keeps at it. And the odds are good. He’s been doing it for decades.

Sanders’ confidence has spread to his players, who aren’t afraid to make it known. 

“People are scared of us. I feel like that’s fear speaking out. So many people hate on us, but they don’t know what’s about to happen, they don’t see the work we put in and the talent we have,” defensive end Jordan Domineck told me on Aug. 11. “When we come out and show what we can really do, it’s going to shock a lot of people.”

On the field, it seems we ought to prepare for more 45-42 games than 10-7 contests. Sean Lewis, who left his post as Kent State’s head coach to become Sanders’ offensive coordinator, already had a reputation as one of the sport’s best play callers before he signed up for this new, ambitious undertaking. For all the skepticism around Sanders, there was little about his experienced staff. Lewis was Exhibit A for its excellence. That was on display Saturday when Lewis kept TCU’s defense on edge and his deep, speedy group of receivers in space, helping Shedeur rack up a school-record 510 yards passing.

No other quarterback who faced a Power 5 opponent in Week 1 threw for more than 366 yards.

As for Hunter, he has the ability to dominate both offense and defense in a way we haven’t seen in the sport in decades.

It’s an attractive brand of football that’s going to produce fireworks. Outside of Hunter, the Buffaloes secondary leaves a bit to be desired. Oh, and there’s the issue that was at the forefront of the entire offseason.

How in the world do the on- and off-field dynamics of a team with 69 scholarship newcomers — 86 total new players in all and 57 transfers — play out over the course of a season?

It’s inherently compelling and unpredictable, and Saturday guaranteed that it will be plenty entertaining on the field, too.

And the sport’s most or second-most recognizable name is the face of the operation. (The other in contention has seven national titles and shares the spotlight with Sanders in the ever-present Aflac commercials.)

Kirby Smart has won the past two national titles. But among Americans, Sanders’ recognizability dwarfs that of the man presiding over the sport’s best overall program.

Love them or hate them, people are watching the Buffs. And people are talking. Sanders transcends the sport in a way it hasn’t seen since probably Johnny Manziel 10 years ago.

The front page of CNN’s website on Sunday evening still featured a story on Colorado’s upset of TCU. There wasn’t another word about the sport elsewhere on the page.

What is Colorado’s potential? That’s a fascinating debate at the moment. Truthfully, I’m not sure.

I don’t know who will make the Playoff field this season. I don’t know who will hoist the championship trophy.

But I believe.

I believe Colorado will draw more eyeballs than all of them.