Colorado Buffaloes vs Texas Christian University
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Do I believe? Well, that depends on what you're asking me I believe in.

Do I believe that Colorado could be a better team than I anticipated it would be in 2023? Yes, I believe that could be the case. It's hard not to believe a little more after watching the Buffaloes take down No. 17 TCU 45-42 in Deion Sanders' Colorado coaching debut. I also believe that TCU was overrated to start the season, as the Horned Frogs lost a lot of key players from the team that reached the College Football Playoff, as well as its offensive coordinator. The Frogs began the season ranked No. 17 more as a tip of the cap for last year's accomplishments than expectations for 2023. That said, even if TCU is a team that could finish the year closer to 7-5 than 10-2, you'd have to be willfully ignorant not to be impressed by what you saw from Colorado on Saturday.

My expectations for the Buffaloes weren't very high this season. It wasn't a question of whether or not I believed in Deion Sanders or his plan for the school. It was more of a depth issue, considering Sanders brought in 87 transfers during the offseason in an unprecedented overhaul of the roster. While some of those 87 transfers were studs like Travis Hunter, I had questions about how the Buffaloes would hold up on their offensive and defensive lines.

Those concerns still exist. For all of Colorado's offensive fireworks against TCU, the Buffaloes finished with only 55 yards rushing, averaging 1.6 yards per carry. Offensive coordinator Sean Lewis -- who was not one of the transfers but was a brilliant hire for Sanders, plucking him away from his job as head coach at Kent State -- and the Colorado staff did an excellent job scheming around it. You don't have to worry about your offensive line holding up in pass protection when you get the ball out as quickly as Shedeur Sanders did against TCU.

Sanders finished his Colorado debut with a school-record 510 yards passing, but his receivers also deserve a lot of credit. While Sanders took plenty of shots downfield, Buff receivers finished with 273 yards after the catch. That's more than any team in the country had this weekend. Dylan Edwards, the freshman lightning bolt the Buffs have at running back, finished with 135 yards receiving, and 139 came after the catch.

Another of those receivers was Travis Hunter, who, yes, I very much believe in, but I always have. Hunter played over 120 snaps in the game, catching 11 passes for 119 yards on offense and with an interception and three tackles on defense. But this is who Hunter is and who he is supposed to be. While Deion Sanders may want to push the narrative that nobody believed in Travis Hunter because he played for Sanders at Jackson State, one must remember Hunter chose to be at Jackson State. Just like Hunter could've chosen to play for any coach at any school in the country. He wasn't considered the No. 1 recruit in the 2022 class and one of the highest-rated recruits of all time by accident. Saturday's performance was simply the first chance for many in the country to see Hunter in action for the first time.

And they saw him in a lot of action, which I believe could lead to problems down the road. I don't care how good Hunter is; I'm skeptical that he can continue to play so many snaps without a heightened risk of injury or, at the very least, wearing himself down for the latter part of the season. When you have a player as talented as he is, I can understand the desire to have him on the field as much as possible and to get the ball in his hands, but there's a balancing act Sanders, and his coaching staff need to figure out going forward.

What I overlooked when evaluating Colorado's 2023 prospects was that while depth is critical for a football team, if it wants to win a lot of games and compete for conference titles or a playoff berth, you can still win a good number of games with some Serious Dudes. Colorado has some Serious Dudes in Sanders, Hunter, Edwards, and Jimmy Horn Jr. (11 receptions, 117 yards). Considering how soft the bottom of the Pac-12 is expected to be, there's a lot of wiggle room for the Buffaloes to get some wins this season.

Do I believe that Deion Sanders put a lot into this one game? Based on Travis Hunter's insane snap count and Deion's postgame press conference, I do. I don't blame him for it. Getting a huge spotlight on the program for this game and next week's game against Nebraska is a big deal. Performing well in these games should go a long way in getting future recruits to buy in to what's being built in Boulder, Colorado. My concern is how going so hard out the gate could affect the team down the road.

So, do I believe in Colorado? Next game.

Complaint of the Week

We can mark UCLA's Chip Kelly as not a fan of the new clock rules. This shouldn't be a surprise, considering Kelly's Oregon teams were a catalyst in changing what offenses looked like at the college level. He was one of the innovators of teams spreading opponents out and running a lot of plays.

However, while Kelly's UCLA offense didn't run as many plays (60) as he'd have liked during their 27-13 win over Coastal Carolina, Coastal ran 77 plays on offense. UCLA could've run more offensive plays if its defense had done a better job getting off the field. Instead, it allowed the Chanticleers to convert nine of their 18 attempts on third and fourth down. Coastal reached the red zone four times in the game but managed only 13 points out of those trips.

This leads me to a more significant point: I don't like the new clock rules, but I won't jump to any conclusions about them after one week. Through this weekend's games (not counting Monday's contest between Duke and Clemson), FBS games have averaged 54.04 points per game. Last season, they averaged 54.59. Regarding plays, last year's games featured an average of 137.4 plays per game. So far this season, we're at 134.1.

We haven't seen a change significant enough to conclude yet, and we aren't likely to before the end of the season. We could all do with fewer commercial breaks, however. On that, Chip and I are in lockstep. 

Dead Conference of the Week

The only thing the Pac-12 loses is schools, not games. That's right, the league that spent the offseason being pillaged by the rest of the Power Five until only Oregon State and Washington State remained has a perfect record on the field through Week 1. The league saw seven of its 12 teams score at least 42 points, and even Stanford finished with 37. No. 15 Oregon led the way with an 81-point outburst against Portland State, but what's more impressive than the point total was the push-up total from The Oregon Duck. He finished the day having done 546 push-ups for every point the Ducks scored.

Catch of the Week

We're already in mid-season form when it comes to highlight catches, because there were plenty of great ones this week, but I'm highlighting Texas State's Joey Hobert. Both because it was a phenomenal catch, and because Texas State pulled off one of the weekend's biggest surprises in a 42-31 win over Baylor.

It's an incredible way to make a debut if you're new Bobcats coach G.J. Kinne. It's the first win over a Power Five school in program history. What's Kinne going to do for an encore?

Stankinest Team of the Week

Nobody in their right mind thought Arkansas State would head to Norman, Oklahoma, this weekend and knock off No. 20 Oklahoma, but the Red Wolves failed to surpass even the lowest of expectations. The Sooners crushed Arkansas State 73-0, and it could've been a lot worse. Oklahoma had a 21-0 lead before the first quarter was halfway finished and led 45-0 by halftime.

It could've gone for 100 if it wanted to, but Brent Venables showed mercy instead.

Which is far more mercy than Butch Jones will receive from Arkansas State fans. Arkansas State is a school that cares about its football program and puts money into it. That's why you've seen coaches like Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin and Blake Anderson have successful runs in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Butch Jones hasn't. Jones is now 5-20 at Arkansas State, and if there's a sportsbook out there giving odds on the first coach fired this season, he'd be a good one to bet on.

Thicc Six of the Week

Bethune Cookman's trip to Memphis didn't go well, as the Tigers handed the Wildcats a 56-14 loss, but it was Amarie Jones who had the most memorable play of the day. Jones took an interception 69 yards to the house, and made some nice moves along the way.

Mandatory Caleb Williams Highlight of the Week

Just another boring performance from the Heisman winner, as he threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns in only 24 attempts, and even ran for 42 yards just to fight the boredom in No. 6 USC's 66-14 victory vs. Nevada. Please do not take for granted how good this kid is, and how superhuman some of the things he does on a weekly basis are.

Block of the Week

Listen, when your coach tells you he wants you to block a guy into the first row, it's not a literal command. They simply want you to finish the job. That said, this is an excellent job by Tennessee's John Campbell of following direction and doing what he's told in the No. 12 Volunteers' 49-134 victory vs. Virginia. 

Also, I'm happy we can never see the number of the Virginia player being erased from the Earth on this play, because while he'll always know this happened to him, he can at least maintain some sense of anonymity.

College Football Playoff Projection of the Week

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. USC
  4. Ohio State

The Buckeyes hang on this week...barely. Until the next Monday After!