Thanks to landscape-changing upset wins by unranked Colorado, Duke and No.8 Florida State, Week 1 of the 2023 college football season got off to a record-setting roaring start
Colorado (45) No.17 TCU (42): Thanks a record-setting debut by Colorado Buffaloes QB Shedeur Sanders 510 yards and four passing touchdowns, Deion Sanders won his first game as Buffaloes head coach in a jaw-dropping 45-42 win over the CFP title game runner-ups in Fort Worth.
One of 80-plus transfer portal players that followed Coach Prime to Boulder, Sanders—the son of Deion—defected from HBCU powerhouse Jackson State west to help his father rebuild a program that had only won one game last year. Safe to say, that the nine-month buildup of hype and media attention appear warranted, for one week at least.
No.8 Florida State (45), No.5 LSU (24): Thanks to scoring 31 unanswered points in the second half, the eighth-ranked Seminoles pulled away from the visiting LSU Tigers in the Camping World Kickoff down in Orlando. Florida State’s Heisman Trophy quarterback accounted for five total touchdowns, with three going to former Michigan State WR transfer Keon Coleman as the Seminoles made a loud early-season statement in throttling the SEC west contender Tigers in a key early-season matchup.
Duke (28), No.9 Clemson (7): Riley Leonard. If you are not familiar with the Duke Blue Devils 6’4 212-pound quarterback before, you will surely know him by now, thanks to his game-sealing 44-yard touchdown scramble to cement Duke’s first win–and ended their 28-game losing streak vs. Top 10 opponents–with their last win coming against Clemson back in 1989. For the game, Lenoard completed 17/33 passes for 175 yards thru the air, while adding eight carries for 98 yards, highlighted by his aforementioned 44-yard TD run.