The No. 10 Oregon Ducks hosted the No. 19 Colorado Buffaloes in what was quite possibly Saturday's most anticipated matchup. Such is the nature of the hype machine around Deion Sanders and the UC program.
Even with College GameDay focused on a top-10 battle between Ohio State and Notre Dame in the midwest, football fans all around the country were especially eager to see how Deion Sanders' team would stand up to its first real test of the season. The Buffaloes entered the game 3-0, same as the Ducks. Last season, before Prime and his media apparatus made the hike north, the Buffs won one game... total.
Before the season, the idea of Colorado earnestly competing with Oregon was nonsensical. When Saturday arrived, there were national pundits predicting UC upsets all over the place. Prime has been nothing short of sensational and his son, QB Shedeur Sanders, has emerged as a legitimate Heisman candidate.
Well... turns out we were all correct before the season. The Buffaloes stampeded into Oregon with their heads held high and a torrent of positive momentum at their back, and the Ducks stomped them into the Earth's core. The final score was 42-6, Oregon, and that wasn't even a full picture of the damage the Ducks wrought. It was 35-0 at halftime and Oregon coasted for the entire second half.
The younger Sanders' Heisman candidacy took a sizable hit, as he posted 159 yards and one touchdown (even those numbers are inflated by garbage time) in the loss. Oregon play-weaver Bo Nix, on the other hand, captained seven scoring drives (28-of-33 passes for 276 yards) and was personally responsible for four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing).
Colorado came crashing back down to earth in stunning fashion and the Ducks announced themselves as a national power with a commanding win over a ranked opponent. The fan reactions were, in keeping with Prime's outsized personality, tremendous.
College football fans react to Oregon's dominant win over Deion Sanders, Colorado
Simply put, Colorado will have to go back to the drawing board — and quick, as the Buffs host No. 5 USC next week.
Colorado has already soared past expectations since Coach Prime's arrival as head coach and this was always the reality of the situation. The Buffs were never going to cruise through the season undefeated and win a national championship, especially not in his first year with the program. It takes time to build a contender and Sanders' group is trending in the right direction.
If anything, this loss serves as motivation heading into another challenging matchup. It's only natural for the Buffs' hype train to slow down after this, but there's still plenty of appreciate about Deion's coaching style and larger-than-life presence. That doesn't go away with this loss. The context may change a little bit, but it doesn't go away.
The Ducks, meanwhile, should get a nice bump in the standings with Stanford on the docket next week and No. 8 Washington coming down the pipeline on Oct. 14.
