Colorado’s Deion Sanders is On3 national Power Five head coach of the week

Each week during the season, On3 selects a national Power Five head coach of the week.

Our choice for Week 1: Colorado’s Deion Sanders.

As has been well-documented at this point, Sanders’ first game as the Buffaloes head coach ended with a 45-42 victory over 2022 national runner-up TCU. Despite inheriting a team that was just 1-11 last year and having a roster that’s made up of about 90 percent of players that weren’t on the team before this offseason, all it took was one game for Sanders to lead Colorado to its first win over a top-20 team since 2009 and its road victory over a top-20 opponent since 2001. In comparison, the Buffaloes were outscored by an average of 55-14 in their four games against ranked opponents last year under the previous Colorado coaching staff.

Throughout the past several months, there have been many around the college coaching world with doubts regarding Sanders, his approach to overhauling the Buffaloes’ roster and his chances of winning even just a few games in this first season at Colorado. There are fewer doubters after Saturday.

Each of the three times TCU took the lead during the second half on Saturday, the Buffaloes answered with a touchdown to retake the lead, including with what proved to be the game-winning score with four minutes and 25 seconds remaining.

“Those guys were playing hard. They were flying to the ball. They were in that Texas heat and they played with a lot of resilience and grit and passion,” a Power Five assistant coach told On3 of Sanders. “That’s a testament to the culture that Deion’s established with those guys. That was really more impressive than even the outcome of the game. The most impressive thing I took away was how well those guys played together and how they didn’t give up.”

Honorable mentions

Florida State’s Mike Norvell: In the marquee matchup of Week 1, Norvell led the way as No. 8 Florida State handed No. 5 LSU its most lopsided season-opening loss as a ranked team in the AP poll era (going back to 1936). After trailing 17-14 at halftime, the Seminoles outscored the Tigers 31-0 in the second half prior to a late garbage time touchdown from LSU.

Duke’s Mike Elko: After guiding Duke to just its third nine-win season since 1941 in his first year as the Blue Devils’ head coach, Elko opened his second season by leading Duke to a 28-7 win over No. 9 Clemson. It was the Blue Devils’ first win over the Tigers since 2004, their first victory over a top-10 opponent since the Steve Spurrier era at Duke in 1989 and their first multi-touchdown win over a top-team since 1952.

Utah’s Kyle Whittingham: Despite being without star QB Cam Rising as well as other key players, Utah not only beat Florida but won by 13 points. The Utes led by as many as 21 points during the fourth quarter.