Paul Finebaum declares Deion Sanders the biggest star in college football, topping Nick Saban, Kirby Smart

The sports spotlight, on college football and nationwide, has fixed itself upon Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. That might not be changing anytime soon either according to Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum joined ‘Get Up’ on Tuesday morning and once again spoke about Coach Prime’s debut this weekend. As of today, he says Sanders is the top figure in college football, even over Alabama’s Nick Saban or Georgia’s Kirby Smart, because of how his storyline is having a Tiger Woods-level impact on the sport.

“At the moment, Coach Prime owns college football. What I’m about to say sounds like hyperbole but it’s really not – He is the biggest name in college football today,” said Finebaum. “That could change down the road. But he’s bigger than Nick Saban, he’s bigger than Kirby Smart. We’re talking about him more than Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley. That’s what makes this story so incredible.”

“He is transcending the sport, much like, maybe, Tiger Woods did golf,” Finebaum said. “People who hated golf or didn’t like golf suddenly said, ‘I’m watching it because of Tiger Woods’. People are doing the same thing because of Deion Sanders. They’re watching the Buffaloes.”

If you consumed any college football, or sports content in general, this weekend? You had to have seen Sanders’ face or highlights and analysis from their 45-42 season-opening win over No. 17 TCU in Fort Worth.

Still, this isn’t something that’s completely brand new. Sanders was able to generate more and more buzz around himself and Jackson State during his time with the Tigers. This win, his first as a Power Five head coach, is just what set the powder keg off into what we’ve seen the past few days reaction-wise.

It takes a lot, and, usually, national titles, to join the conversation with coaches like Saban and Smart. However, Finebaum believes Coach Prime has pulled up a seat at that table as one of the biggest, most influential people in college football, if not the biggest.

Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich say Colorado has ‘no chance’ to make the College Football Playoff

In week one, Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes announced themselves with a win against TCU in Fort Worth. With that has come a ton of excitement for the potential future of the program.

That excitement has extended to ESPN, where they played a game of fact-or-fiction on ‘Get Up’. At that point, Mike Greenberg asked analysts Heather Dinich and Paul Finebaum if Colorado is a potential College Football Playoff team.

“Fiction. Pump the breaks a minute, everybody,” Heather Dinich said. “But, I will say, the fact we are even talking about this and asking this question shows the magnitude of what (Sanders) has done.”

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Finebaum agreed, though he did admit that it looks like Colorado is going to be better than most people expected them to be this season.

“Farcical, really, but remember Deion was predicted to win three games and I think he’ll have that done by September,” Paul Finebaum said. “They’re a really nice program. He is owning the sport but there is absolutely, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, Deion, there is absolutely no chance — no chance whatsoever that they’re ever in the conversation past October.”