Dave Wilson is an editor for ESPN.com since 2010. He previously worked at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.
FORT WORTH, Texas — On the first weekend of the 2023 season, hype gave way to history.
Deion Sanders arrived in Texas with 86 new Colorado players — an unprecedented remodel — and took down No. 17 TCU45-42 in the Horned Frogs’ first game since a College Football Playoff National Championship game appearance.
The Buffaloes were a 21-point underdog, giving Coach Prime the first win by an underdog of more than 20 points in his full-time FBS coaching debut since the 1978 FBS/FCS split.
“We’re going to continuously be questioned because we do things that have never been done,” Deion Sanders said. “We do things that have never been done and that makes people uncomfortable.”
The cornerstone stars of Sanders’ transfer congregation — Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, who both came with him from Jackson State — definitely made the Horned Frogs uncomfortable. Along the way, they erased years of futility for Colorado in just one game:
• Shedeur Sanders completed 38 of 47 passes for 510 yards, the most passing yards by a player in his FBS debut over the past 25 years, while also becoming the first Colorado quarterback ever to top the 500-yard mark. He threw more touchdowns Saturday (4) than Colorado did in six road games last season (3). Over the past three years, Colorado had been one of three Power 5 teams without a 300-yard passer.
• Hunter played 129 snaps and became the first Division I player in the past 20 seasons to have 100 receiving yards (he finished with 119 on 11 catches) and an interception in the same game. He also had three tackles and a pass breakup.
“We had some guys that singled themselves out with their playing and their playing ability,” Deion Sanders said. “A lot of guys you doubted — one of them from an HBCU — I think he had 510 yards passing in a Power 5 football game. And he happens to be my son, and I’m proud of him, tremendously.”
Hunter, the former five-star recruit who was one of the first to buy into Sanders’ vision at Jackson State, wore a shirt with a montage of images from his coach’s Hall of Fame playing career. Like Sanders, he took the same opportunity to say that none of this was unexpected.
“Football is football no matter who’s playing. You got to go out there and dominate whoever’s in their way,” Hunter said. “I went out there and dominated. A lot of people doubted me because I rated myself as No. 1 on the Heisman watch list. Now people are praising me. They didn’t know what I could do. They’ve finally seen what I’ve seen, my vision and the coaches’ vision for me.”
Deion Sanders agreed, saying he believes he has to promote his players.
“We had a couple of guys who should be a front-runner for the Heisman right now,” he said. “Who did that? Who did what they did today?”
Dylan Edwards, one of the jewels of Sanders’ first Colorado recruiting class, for one.
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound freshman from Derby, Kansas, finished with 177 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns, becoming the first FBS freshman over the past 20 seasons with three receiving TDs and a rushing TD in his collegiate debut.
Sanders said he coached Edwards in youth football when the freshman was 7 years old, which led to the four-star recruit picking Colorado over offers from schools like Notre Dame, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Oregon. In fact he decommitted from Notre Dame to sign with Colorado.
“Don’t let the size fool you,” Sanders said. “Dylan looks in the mirror like ‘Shallow Hal.’ When he looks in the mirror he sees a 215-pound man that’s probably about 6-4. That’s the way Dylan addresses life.”
The Buffaloes also had four 100-yard receivers, a first in school history. Hunter and Edwards were two. The other two, Jimmy Horn Jr. (11 catches, 117 yards and a touchdown) and Xavier Weaver (6 catches, 118 yards) are transfers from South Florida.
It wasn’t all so magical. The Buffaloes gave up 541 yards, surrendered an 86-yard kickoff return and had a field goal blocked. Shedeur Sanders missed two deep balls to Hunter by inches, and Hunter just missed what could’ve been another interception.
The grand experiment looked like the shot in the arm Deion Sanders promised when he was hired, snapping a 27-game road losing streak against top-20 opponents in front of 53,294, the largest crowd in TCU history. The hype is gone. The Coach Prime era has already changed the fortunes at Colorado.
“These young men in there right now, they believe,” he said. “Not all of them believed before. But right now, they came up one by one, two by two, and said, ‘Coach, we believe.’ Now they believe. Now Boulder believes, people in the front office, people in the building, the fans, the students, now everybody wants to believe. I’m good with that. We got room.”
SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.
Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.
“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”
Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.
“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”
Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.
It became their mother’s project after their deaths.
“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”
The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.
“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”
Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.
“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”
Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.
“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”
The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.
He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.
“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”
The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.
“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”
Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.
All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.
“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”
Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.
Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.
Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.
It’s a rematch of the last year’s Stanley Cup Final, as the Edmonton Oilers take on the Florida Panthers. If you need a quick refresher, Aleksander Barkov and the Panthers went up 3-0 to start the series before Connor McDavid and the Oilers won the next three to force a Game 7. The Panthers prevailed in the deciding match to take home their first championship, though McDavid would win the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP despite being on the losing team.
The Oilers opened as early favorites in Game 1, but series odds have been close to a toss-up. McDavid is the current odds-on favorite to win the Conn Smythe.
All odds accurate as of publish time. For more, go to ESPN BET.
Odds to win Conn Smythe Trophy
The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the player deemed to have been the most valuable to his team throughout the playoffs. Only players with 100-1 odds or better are listed. More odds available at ESPN BET.