Analyst downplays Coach Prime leaving Colorado for struggling SEC school

Deion Sanders leaving Colorado football for Florida — which is something many Gator fans are hoping for given current UF coach Billy Napier’s futility and the rapid ascension of Coach Prime after the Buffs outlasted TCU 45-42 in one of Week 1’s most shocking results — is a dialogue Hail Florida Hail’s Benjamin Henderson would rather not engage in. Henderson wasn’t all that impressed with CU’s upset of the Horned Frogs in Fort Wayne as a three-touchdown underdog.

“Now we know Mr. Sanders likes to read things written about himself, and perhaps you are reading this piece right now,” Henderson prefaced before saying, “If you are welcome, make yourself at home. But let’s make one thing perfectly clear: one victory over a team that only had three returning starters doesn’t mean we have to make the leap from skeptical to saying we should have hired this guy instead.”

Henderson is right to have seen through TCU’s bullish projections for this season after a 2022 College Football Playoff Championship appearance considering the roster turnover. Not to mention the coupling of their brutal showing against Georgia in the most lopsided championship game in the history of the sport and the program’s momentum death that followed. Still, downplaying the win is done at the risk of the downplayer. Because 500+ yards passing from Shedeur Sanders, 119 receiving yards on offense and an interception/three tackles from Travis Hunter on defense, four all-purpose touchdowns and 159 all-purpose yards from Dylan Edwards, and a Week 1 win on the road is nothing to snub one’s nose at in the slightest.

Colorado football must start 3-0 to truly arrive

Now that the TCU test has been passed, with flying colors by the offense and a barely passing grade for the defense, things get easier for Colorado football over the next two weeks. Week 2 opponent Nebraska’s offense looked shaky with pick-happy Jeff Simms leading the charge, though a shift to the running game and a de-emphasis on long-distance air strikes would do Matt Rhule and Co. well against CU’s elite secondary and less-than-elite defensive trenches. Colorado State looked in over its head against Wazzu in a Week 1 washing from half of the Pac-2, or for the hip hop heads, the 2-Pac, so the Buffs should have a sizable advantage when the two Centennial State foes face off in Week 3.

It’s fair not to be too high on Colorado just yet, but a 3-0 start would mean the Buffs have truly arrived. Right on time too, with Oregon at Autzen Week 4 and USC in town Week 5 to wrap up September’s slate; when we can wake up Green Day.