Paul Finebaum makes sharp U-turn on Deion Sanders in potshot at Colorado football

Paul Finebaum once called Deion Sanders a celebrity coach, so it only makes sense that he believes USC and the City of Angels are a good fit. It's just strange that Finebaum is now a fan of Coach Prime and a hater of the Colorado football program.

"I think he's lost the momentum he had in that town," Finebaum said Monday with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN's First Take (h/t BuffStampede). "You have to win in LA or otherwise, you lose badly. Instead of harping on Lincoln Riley, I've decided to come up with a solution. Maybe he does well, maybe he doesn't, but the answer is really moving forward, and I believe the answer after this season, is Deion Sanders. He's going to be tired of Colorado because quite frankly it's not Prime Time. He's done as well as he can with Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, but you put Prime in tinseltown and you have one of the greatest combinations in history."

The only logical link between Sanders and USC would be Julian Lewis sticking with the Trojans and Coach Prime joining him in L.A. Do we believe that Sanders will want to take part in Big Ten politics when he has it so good at CU, though?

Paul Finebaum cozying up to Deion Sanders after being eviscerated by Lane Kiffin

Deion Sanders Jr. professed his admiration for Lane Kiffin after he claimed he isn't aware at what Finebaum is good at during SEC Media Days on live airwaves.

Perhaps Finebaum is playing nice with Coach Prime because he doesn't want the full arsenal from Deion whenever the Buffs coach got the chance.

Sanders certainly wouldn't take kindly to Finebaum attacking Boulder, but the SEC host backed off the personal insults he was hurling in June; going as far as calling the debut season of "Prime Time" at Colorado "illegitimate" during the "McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning" radio show from Birmingham.

 “But listen, he is an industry-created coaching celebrity," Finebaum said. "What happened last year was generational, but it was mostly forced and created, and it was really in many ways illegitimate.”

Finebaum shifting his shots away from Sanders and on to CU football galvanizes an entire fanbase to need to hear what he has to say next. It's smart marketing.

And it's smart if he doesn't want to be verbally assailed by another coach.