No original SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE last night, at least the variety show kind. So it was ESPN that became this insomniac’s default choice for winding down after an exhausting day of actual work.
But last night just happened to be a showcase for Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes, a team that honestly I had lost track of since last year’s hype-filled opening weeks that marked a stellar debut and record late window ratings for his first season at the Division I-A level as a head coach. But after those first wins, their season fell apart. CU finished 4-8, albeit three full games than they finished in 2022.
This year, the Buffs’ start wasn’t anywhere near as captivating. They barely got by FCS stalwart North Dakota State in their season and home opener on the Thursday night before Labor Day, and then followed that up with a loss to mediocre Nebraska. By that point, I was already distracted with somewhat miraculous baseball and other priorities so, sorry Deion, you were off my radar.
Boy, was I glad I caught up last night, just in time for a significant milestone in the rebirth of a once-storied program back in the days of the Big Eight. Per THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Pat Graham:
Shedeur Sanders threw a pair of touchdown passes to Travis Hunter and ran for a score to help Colorado become bowl-eligible with a 34-23 win over Cincinnati on Saturday night.
Sanders put on quite an efficient aerial show, completing 25 of 30 passes for 323 yards. He completed his first 15 passes, which was the most to start a game in program history. Not bad considering he’s getting over the flu.
Hunter had nine catches for 153 yards, including a 34-yard TD grab with three seconds left before halftime. On defense, the two-way star and Heisman hopeful broke up four passes.
And USA TODAY’s Brent weighed in early this morning on the significance of all of what kept me wide awake longer than I had anticipated last night:
Deion Sanders now has proof. His experiment at Colorado has worked. He showed it Saturday night when his Colorado football team beat Cincinnati, 34-23, giving the Buffaloes the minimum number of wins this season to become eligible for a postseason bowl game at 6-2.
It…validates a rebuilding strategy that had never been seen before in major college football.
∎ As head coach, he overhauled the roster with an unprecedented influx of 51 scholarship transfer players in 2023, retaining just nine returning scholarship players last year out of a roster limit of 85.
∎ Then he flipped the roster again with 39 new scholarship transfers after his team finished 4-8.
∎ He even retooled his coaching staff this year after his top two assistant coaches left for other jobs.
Now, after just 20 games of testing, he has undeniable evidence that it produced the preliminary result he wanted – a bowl game, with even bigger accomplishments still possible this season, including a Big 12 Conference championship. “We want so much more,” Sanders said.
And as Schrotenboer expounded, he actually might be able to get it.
Can Colorado make a run for the Big 12 title?
BYU (8-0) and Iowa State (7-0) are still undefeated, but the Buffs are one game behind them with a 4-1 record in league play. They have an off weekend next week before a Nov. 9 game at Texas Tech (5-3).
SNL will be back in first-run, and on the Saturday after Election Day, final result or not it will likely be must-see TV. But depending upon when that game with the Red Raiders is scheduled, the variety show might just have to be seen on playback.
With all due respect to Maya Rudolph, there’s a way more captivating show watching Deion and family restore watchworthiness in Boulder than her flawless impressions are in Studio 8H. And depending upon what does transpire in the next nine days, there’s a darn good chance Sanders’ will be a lot more upbeat.
Courage…