“Big Noon Kickoff” is starting off with a doozy of a matchup in Week 1.
On one side, you’ve got the No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs, the darlings of the 2022 season, who advanced all the way to the College Football Playoff championship game in its first season under coach Sonny Dykes.
On the other side, you’ve got the Colorado Buffaloes, who decided to deal with their 1-11 season by making the splashiest coaching hire of the offseason.
Enter Deion Sanders — aka “Coach Prime” — who not only brought his superstar quarterback son Shedeur Sanders with him from Jackson State, but who completely remade the Colorado roster.
Think we’re kidding? Check out these stats on the Colorado roster flip, courtesy of FOX Sports research:
- 87 total newcomers (68 scholarship players and 19 walk-ons)
- The 68 new scholarship players are made up of 51 transfers and 17 freshmen
- There are only nine remaining scholarship players from last year’s team
- Only three returning starters from last season
- The roster is still short on scholarship players, with only 77 (NCAA allows up to 85)
Check below for some pregame reading, videos from the pregame show and more. Then return for our live coverage below, featuring analysis from FOX Sports’ Bryan Fischer!
Pregame reading
Week 1 wagering: Chris “The Bear” Fallica shares his predictions from all the top games, including TCU-Colorado. Read more.
Think the Deion Sanders hype is out of control now? Wait until Colorado wins, Martin Rogers writes.
Is TCU ready for the next step? ‘We have to prove it’: After leading his Horned Frogs on a magical run to the CFP Championship game, Sonny Dykes believes he is building a program with staying power. We went to Fort Worth this offseason to find out what he’s doing to stay on top. Laken Litman has the story.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter is poised for stardom on both sides of the ball: NFL analyst and former player Bucky Brooks breaks it down.
Week 1 By the Numbers: All the key stats to know about Colorado-TCU and all the other top games this weekend. Read more.
NFL Scouts will be watching Shedeur Sanders, Marvin Harrison Jr., other top stars in Week 1: NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang explains what makes these players such good pro prospects.
Bonus reading!
How Cade McNamara, a “Michigan legend,” found a renewed purpose at Iowa: This story isn’t part of the “Big Noon” slate, but it’s nonetheless an epic tale from FOX Sports’ Michael Cohen that deserves your attention. Cade McNamara helped Michigan become the class of the Big Ten. Now he’s at Iowa and happier than ever. Here’s how it happened.
Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
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