Note: Make your picks for Joe vs. the Pro and the Hero at the bottom of the post.
This is an opinion column.
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It’s time for dangerously bold pronouncements, predictions and prime-time prognostications for college football. Naturally, we’ll begin with Deion Sanders.
Is anyone more relevant than Coach Prime in the entire sport?
Sanders and Colorado began the season with a win on Thursday against North Dakota State. Most people will reflexively laugh at the idea of CU’s narrow 31-26 victory against NDSU as being anything but impressive. Those people are silly fools, and don’t know the differences between buffalo and bison.
People love to hate on Coach Prime. Take Paul Finebaum, ESPN’s PR lackey to the SEC. Finebaum called Sanders irrelevant earlier this week. It couldn’t be further from the truth. No one is more famous in the entire sport of college football. Sanders is a change agent, and his popularity is one of the best things to happen for college football in a long time.
Colorado football has courage, and that’s more than I can say for most of the teams in the SEC. They’re too scared to even want to play nine conference games. Coach Prime is out here starting the season with a dub against nine-time FCS national champ North Dakota State.
Opening the season with North Dakota State takes guts. Pound for pound, NDSU might be the best college football program in the country. For Colorado, which went 4-8 last season, it was a massive gamble.
Coach Prime took advantage of the spotlight and agreed to move the game to Thursday night. Brilliant. Not only did Colorado grab national attention to begin the season, but now the Buffs have a couple extra days to prepare for their Week 2 game against Nebraska. It gives people plenty to talk about, too.
Sanders should patch things up with Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler this week. Freezing out Keeler for being critical was a mistake. I like Coach Prime because he coaches with an old-school flare that reminds me of Bobby Bowden. But Sanders should reflect on how Bowden treated the reporters who covered FSU. Win or lose on Saturday, Bowden met the FSU press corps for breakfast every Sunday morning.
Pure class.
Colorado moved from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 this season, and Coach Prime is my pick to win Big 12 coach of the year. The Buffs’ toughest game of the season is at Arizona.
As for SEC coach of the year, I’m going with new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. Alabama is loaded with talent and DeBoer has an excellent record in big-money games. Based on my GOAT coaching metric, DeBoer is 4-1 in big-money games to begin his career.
HEISMAN PICK
Colorado features two of the best players in college football. One is quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of the coach. The other is Travis Hunter, who plays defensive back and wide receiver. Hunter is my pick to win the Heisman Trophy this season. He had seven receptions for 132 yards and three touchdowns against NDSU.
Defensively, Hunter is a lockdown corner in the mold of a young Coach Prime. The only question for Hunter at this point is whether or not he can stay healthy this season playing so many snaps.
SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, an underrated talent, is my pick for SEC Player of the Year.
He’s a physical freak like Tim Tebow but with a better arm and faster wheels. Tebow was a fullback with an arm and his toughness set the tone for Florida. Milroe will need to find that edge against Georgia, Tennessee and Auburn, and I’m betting that he will.
PLAYOFF PICKS
(12) Boise State at (5) Oregon with the winner playing (4) Colorado.
(9) Ole Miss at (8) Alabama with the winner playing (1) Ohio State
(11) BYU at (6) Texas with the winners playing (3) Miami
(10) Georgia Tech at (7) Notre Dame with the winner playing (2) Georgia
Tasty stuff.
QUARTERFINALS
Oregon vs. Colorado
Alabama vs. Ohio State
Texas vs. Miami
Notre Dame vs. Georgia
NATIONAL CHAMP
Irish take down Ohio State in the title game.
MAILBAG
Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind for the mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.
Gordon in Birmingham writes…
I’m a huge AU fan but it’s hard for me having coaches Pearl and Freeze. They’re great coaches and both recruit well. I pull like crazy and watch all the games. But, as people, I just don’t know. I wish I liked them as people, but I cringe sometimes. I wish Pearl would pipe down. I understand his views on Israel, but with his voting for Trump and his conversations with Tom Cotton (yikes), my opinion of Coach as a person is lower.
With Freeze, he and his wife were invited to Mar-a-Lago and they accepted. I think Trump is one of the worst people in the world. And a moron. But we knew Freeze’s history going in. And Tubs has proven his stupidity the minute he got to DC. Just my opinion, but it’s tough being an AU fan. Mixed feelings.
ANSWER: Freeze has grown on me. I like his candor and transparency. The same goes with Pearl, one of my favorite coaches of all time. Don’t let off-the-field decisions and opinions of coaches take away from your love of Auburn.
Terry writes …
Two quick things:
1. Labor Day weekend 2022 we exchanged opinions about Nix leaving Auburn for Oregon. Although I did and still do love the guy, I was tired of being beat up over his wise departure. I said to you “Athlon has him rated as the 56th best QB in the nation for 2022. Not likely to get an NFL job.” Should be pretty clear that I WAS WRONG as he takes snaps as the starter in Denver. I must own my mistake.
2. I am an Auburn constituent by virtue of my graduation there and the fact that I am blessed to be an academic scholarship donor. I saw my first Auburn football game in 1960 back before sliced bread was invented. I am very concerned about Pearl and appreciate your article today. Of course he is entitled to free speech. But I believe it’s fair to say he is paid to represent Auburn 24-7 just as President [Christopher B.] Roberts is. When he says stuff publicly that causes a lot of people to form a negative opinion of Auburn University it has adverse consequences for Auburn. In my opinion, [athletics director John] Cohen should counsel him. Of course an attorney must help guide how far Auburn can go in reprimanding him.
ANSWER: Future Sen. Bruce Pearl (R-Alabama) might not have your vote, but he definitely has your attention.
Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
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