The Deion Sanders era at Colorado is going to start off with a nationally televised matchup on Fox, the network announced on Monday.
Fox has selected Colorado’s season opener on September 2 against the TCU Horned Frogs for week one’s edition of Big Noon Saturday. Big Noon Saturday is Fox’s premier timeslot for the week, looking to put their biggest game in the noon window.
The matchup is set to place in Fort Worth on September 2 as the Buffaloes look to take on the nation’s runner-up from last season. Last season, TCU defeated Colorado 38-13.
It has been an extremely active offseason for Colorado.
While the Buffaloes program is becoming a popular talking point around the college football world, it hasn’t been all positive publicity. Sanders and his program have come under fire for how they have gone about their roster construction including having players who they didn’t deem fit for the new era of Colorado football, to enter the transfer portal. While that isn’t an uncommon practice in college football, it has rarely been in the public sphere to this degree.
The program also saw over 47,000 fans show up for their annual spring game while season tickets have sold out for the first time since 1996.
Colorado at TCU. Ohio State at Michigan.
The biggest games of the season are on FOX 🍿🏈 pic.twitter.com/oyVqDOSMvK
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) May 15, 2023
The Buffaloes are coming off a 1-11 record under head coaches Karl Dorrell and Mike Sanford. They also went 1-8 in conference play, their lone win coming against California.
Prior to his time at Colorado, Sanders spent three seasons at Jackson State where he went 27-6 including 19-2 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. He did, however, lose both of his Celebration Bowl appearances.
The Horned Frogs, however, are coming off a historic season as referenced above. After a perfect regular season, TCU would lose the Big 12 Championship game to Kansas State before making the College Football Playoffs. They would defeat Michigan 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl before losing to Georgia in the national championship game 65-7.