Prime's Time

Week 1 of the college football season got off with a bang this past weekend, and there is still one game left for Labor Day night tonight, but who wants to see Dabo Swinney?  I'm taking a pass and going to see the Pirates and Brewers at PNC Park.

From the local standpoint....

• Pitt paid off a cupcake and walloped Wofford.  We'll know more about the Panthers after they play a real D-I school next week, Cincinnati.
• Robert Morris was a cupcake  that got paid off and was walloped by Air Force.
• Penn State unveiled what could be a star QB in Drew Allar, kicked WVU's ass, and scored a TD with :06 remaining to turn a 31-15 route into a 38-15 route.  This pleased those who bet PSU and the OVER, and it reinforced a pattern of behavior of questionable sportsmanship from Lions coach James Franklin.
• In that game, when WVU had a chance to close the gap, Mountaineer  head coach Neal Brown called for a trick play on fourth and short yardage that had the second string QB throwing a pass to the first string QB.  The play blew up in their faces like a cheap exploding cigar.  The question in Morgantown now becomes will Brown be fired at the end of the season or during WVU's bye week in mid-season.

All the other big names played this weekend - Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Michigan et al, but the real story, the only story worth talking about was the debut of Deion Sanders - COACH PRIME - as the new HC at the University of Colorado, and the Buffs stunning 45-42 upset over heavily favored TCU, a team that we last saw playing in the College Football Playoff Championship Game last January.

If you've followed the story in the off season, you know the details:  Sanders left HBCU  Jackson State to take over the 1-11 Buffaloes, sent all but ten players from last year's Colorado team packing, and brought in over eighty new players from the transfer portal, one of whom, Shedeur Sanders, his son, he installed immediately at quarterback.  Young Sanders threw for over 500 yards and four touchdowns, and had four different receivers gain over 100 yards in reception yardage.  It was about as entertaining as college football gets.

For all of the hype and bombast that Deion brought with him to Boulder, most experts said that if Colorado manages to win four or five games this season, that was about all that could be expected.  They looked better than that on Saturday, but that defense did give up 42 points as well, so we'll see. One thing for certain, though, is that Coach Prime will make the Buffs Must See TV this fall, at least through the early weeks of the season.