Ken Schreiber's takes on Deion Sanders' big win, and the rest of Week 1 in college football
Clearly, we were right about Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders and Colorado. The Buffaloes' defense is in complete chaos. What we underestimated was how bad TCU's defense would be in last week's 45-42 loss. Having said that, the Buffs deserve congratulations.
The pollsters rewarded them by ranking them No. 22 this week. Seriously? What a joke. If Coach Sanders wins six games, he should be coach of the year. However, come talk to me after they play USC and Oregon. What impressed me most was that Coach Prime took a losing culture (1-11 last year) and showed his team how to win a close game. Up next is Nebraska, a team that has no idea how to win a close game. It helped that Sanders' son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, threw for 510 yards and that the Horned Frogs missed 22 tackles and had numerous defensive breakdowns.
But the other real story was two-way player Travis Hunter, who in addition to intercepting a pass near the goal line, caught 11 passes for 119 yards. Oh, and he played 129 downs. That's not a misprint. He's special. And so is Coach Prime who in one week has put Colorado and himself at the epicenter of college football.
Was that really Clemson?
No. 8 Clemson's 28-7 loss to Duke was disturbing because of the the Tigers' lack of passion and mistake-prone football. Two fumbles were lost inside the 5-yard line and two easy field-goal attempts were missed. But Duke just beat the %$#@! out of the Tigers. Their quarterback, Riley Leonard, didn't have great statistics (17-for-33 for 175 yards, 98 yards rushing) but played turnover-free football and was not sacked. What stood out is that Duke had the speed and strength to match the Tigers on the line of scrimmage and in the secondary. The Tigers may be in trouble. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said if "we do what we did offensively the rest of the year, we won't lose a game." What game was he watching? He described the game as "weird." I called it the most unrecognizable and uninspiring performance by any Clemson team in recent memory.
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Florida State's good, but not this good
No. 5 LSU failed to show up in the second half against No. 8 Florida State and got blown out, 45-24. The Tigers controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half but were up only 17-14 because of failed fourth downs and turnovers inside the red zone. I like FSU quarterback Jordan Travis (23-for-31 for 342 yards, 4 TDS, 1 INT). He's got quick feet, a good arm and throws an accurate pass. Just don't get too excited yet because FSU's defense looked vulnerable throughout, yielding 459 yards to the Tigers and taking some costly first-half penalties. They must be more disciplined. The Seminoles are now ranked No. 4, which is ridiculous.
The new-look ACC
In case you missed it, the ACC expanded by adding California, Stanford and yes, SMU. Why? Because there's strength in numbers. Cal and Stanford agreed to receive only 30% of the revenue for many years while SMU will receive nothing for almost a decade. Desperate teams do desperate things. The ACC, needing 12 of 15 votes to expand, just made it (12-3). FSU, Clemson and North Carolina, arguably the league's most attractive brands, were firmly against the move. NC State, on the fence, ultimately decided to vote for expansion. It says here that come 2036 or earlier, you won't recognize this conference's members. FSU and Clemson would leave now if they were not part of an insane contract that assigns all future television revenue until 2036 to the conference if any member leaves. That's potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. But the clock is running on the demise of the ACC as we know it, and I expect it to emerge a decade from now as a basketball league that plays football, too.
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And then there were two
Washington State and Oregon State are all that is left from the PAC 12, a conference that is 13-0 so far this season against mostly horrendous competition. What's next? Get absorbed by the Mountain West? Independence? Or maybe reconfigure themselves by using the automatic qualifier (which is worth tens of millions of dollars) in the remaining years of the College Football Playoff to reinvent itself. Why lose all that cash that can be used effectively as an attraction for other schools. There are schools out there that would jump to the PAC 12 (San Diego State, Fresno State, Memphis, etc.). Lots of money there for the PAC 2 to entice other teams to join the "new" league.
Here are my picks
No. 11 Texas at No. 3 Alabama (-7): The game of the year. Yeah, right. Texas comes off an easy victory against Rice, 37-10, with returning quarterback Quinn Ewers (260 yards, 3 TDs). 'Bama manhandled Middle Tennessee, 56-7, in their "exhibition" game. The Tide have a new quarterback in Jalen Milroe, a dual-threat who was 13-for-18, 194 yards and three touchdowns. He's an elite recruit but this is his first true test. They've been saying Texas is back for over a decade. Fuhgeddaboudit. The Longhorns aren't ready for the SEC, especially on the road. I cannot think of any circumstance where Texas prevails. Why? Two words. Nick Saban. Saban is 28-2 against former assistants, which Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is. Just don't see a competitive game, which is why I'm not going. Roll Tide!
No. 13 Notre Dame at North Carolina State (+7.5): The Irish have played two "preseason" games against Navy (a 42-3 win) and Tennessee State (a 56-3 victory). The Wolfpack struggled at UConn, prevailing 24-14. Their new quarterback is Brennan Armstrong, who threw for 155 yards and ran for 96 yards. Not real impressive numbers. The Irish have their new transfer star quarterback, Sam Hartman, from Wake Forest and have a huge advantage in talent. Still, it's a road game and we all know the Irish's history of playing on the road. This is a "trap" game for the Irish, who may be looking ahead to No. 5 Ohio State in two weeks. The Wolfpack will have to pressure Hartman to have any chance. I'm traveling to Raleigh for the experience and to be there if the unexpected happens. But I like the Irish in this one.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Ken Schreiber's says Deion Sanders is at center of college football
