College football Week 10 - Colorado, Deion Sanders stuck in mud - ESPN
Things have taken a turn for the worse at Colorado following the team's unexpected 3-0 start. And after Deion Sanders made a change at playcaller before another loss on Saturday, to Oregon State, more questions are being raised about the program.
Week 10 also shined a spotlight on an unexpected Heisman Trophy candidate and a pair of teams in the midst of surprising turnarounds.
Our college football reporters look at those stories and more with this week's Monday takeaways.
Sanders received a lot of justified praise during Colorado's 4-1 start, not only for how he flipped the roster in one offseason, but for how his players performed on game days. Colorado wasn't a perfect team but was a dramatically improved one, thanks in part to the coaching staff.
Now, after Colorado has dropped three straight games, coaching decisions are being debated, without a lot of clarity from Sanders. The topic after Saturday night's loss to Oregon State was why Sanders had switched offensive playcallers, moving analyst and former NFL coach Pat Shurmur into the role that Sean Lewis had occupied through eight games. Lewis, who left a head-coaching job at Kent State for Colorado, had overseen an offense that opened with a record-setting passing performance at TCU, and averaged more than 500 yards and 41.3 points in four of the first five games. Colorado averaged 13.2 points per game in 2022.
When I first heard of the potential playcaller switch Thursday night, I couldn't believe it. Neither could coaches who reached out Friday after the news was confirmed. «What on earth is going on at Colorado????» an SEC offensive coordinator texted. Sanders didn't offer many details in explaining the move, only that he did it in Colorado's best interests and