LOS ANGELES — When Oregon routed Deion Sanders and Colorado 42-6 last week, handing “Coach Prime” and the Buffaloes their first loss of the season, Ducks’ head coach Dan Lanning made it personal.
“They’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins,” Lanning told his team in front of a crowd of cameras, referencing Colorado’s historically high traction on social media over the season’s first month.
This week, Sanders and the Buffaloes will play another high-profile matchup, when they host No. 8 USC. Led by head coach Lincoln Riley and superstar quarterback Caleb Williams, the Trojans will be another tough test for a Colorado team looking to rebound from a 1-11 campaign in 2022.
Unlike with Lanning, however, there appears to be no feud between Riley and Sanders ahead of the matchup. In fact, the two head coaches have done nothing but sing each others’ praise throughout the week.
“He’s done a great job with the roster,” Riley said of Sanders following Tuesday’s practice. “I’ve never met him, but he seems to be very genuine in his approach.”
“He’s one of the best players that’s ever played our game.”
Sanders, meanwhile, echoed his respect for Riley.
“I’ve got love, respect and appreciation for everything he’s accomplished,” he told the Colorado media this week.
As many have noted, their are numerous similarities in the ways that Riley and Sanders have used the NCAA Transfer Portal to quickly flip the rosters at USC and Colorado However, Sanders has taken things to an entirely new level, bringing in a whopping 50 transfers in one offseason, and returning just 20 players from last year’s group of Buffaloes.
USC and Colorado will kick off bright and early Saturday morning at 9:00 AM PDT/10:00 AM CDT.
Trojans fall in polls
Following their narrow victory over a bad Arizona State team, USC fell from No. 5 to No. 8 in the latest AP poll. The Trojans also dropped one spot to No. 6 in the Coaches Poll.
The Associated Press has No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 5 Florida State, No. 6 Penn State, and No. 7 Washington ranked ahead of the Trojans. Meanwhile, ahead of USC in the Coaches Poll are the Bulldogs, Wolverines, Buckeyes, Seminoles, and Longhorns, in that order.
Colorado, whom the Trojans visit this week, dropped out of the polls altogehter after their 42-6 drubbing at the hands of Oregon. The Ducks came in just behind the Trojans at No. 9 in both polls
Arizona kickoff time announced
On Monday, the Pac-12 announced the kickoff time and network for USC’s October 7 Trojan Family Weekend matchup vs. Arizona. The game will kick off at 7:30 PM PDT and air on ESPN.
It will be the Trojans’ third 7:30 PM kickoff in their last four games. The one exception, however, is this week’s matchup with Colorado—which will kick off at 9:00 AM PDT. Clearly, the schedule makers are trying to confuse the players’ biological clocks by having them play at completely different times in consecutive weeks.
