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BOULDER, Colo. — Shedeur Sanders was just trying to be the nice guy and get his teammate a late touchdown. It nearly backfired.

Sanders threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns — three to Travis Hunter — and Colorado began Year 2 under coach Deion Sanders by holding off FCS power North Dakota State 31-26 on Thursday night.

But it was the pass Shedeur Sanders didn’t need to throw that raised some eyebrows.

With 1:41 left and a couple of run plays all that were necessary to run down the clock, Sanders tried to connect deep with LaJohntay Wester. He underthrew the pass and it wound up incomplete to stop the clock.

Deion Sanders’ fatherly advice: no more Mr. Nice Guy.

“Shedeur’s such a good kid, sometimes it costs him,” the coach said. “That’s his character. I’m like, ‘Come on, Dawg, not right now. It’s not time to be the good guy right now. It’s time to put this game away.'”

North Dakota State got the ball back with 31 seconds left. As time expired, Cam Miller launched a pass from his own 47 that was caught by Tyler Terhark 4 yards short of the end zone.

“You ever feel like you won but you didn’t win?” said Deion Sanders, whose team was a 10½-point favorite. “Let’s move on from that. I’m going to try my best to hold back my anger. But we got a ‘W’ so I’m happy.”

The methodical play of the Bison in the first half helped keep Heisman Trophy hopeful Sanders and the Colorado offense on the sideline. But once Sanders was out there, he went to work.

Jimmy Horn Jr. had seven catches for 198 yards and a score, and Hunter hauled in seven passes for 132 yards.

Hunter’s acrobatic, 3-yard TD with a defensive back draped on him gave Colorado a 31-20 lead with 7:57 left. He celebrated by spinning the ball and doing a dance. Hunter still had that much energy despite playing all game at cornerback, too.

The play of Hunter caught the attention of NBA great LeBron James, who wrote on social media: “MAN TRAVIS HUNTER IS RIDICULOUS!!!!! WOW.”

Like Sanders, Hunter is mentioned in Heisman conversations.

Sanders finished 26-of-34 passing with an interception. He has thrown for 955 yards and eight TDs in two openers at Colorado (he had 510 yards last season at TCU).

“It was cool,” Sanders said about his big night. “But every incompletion, it hurts me inside a little bit. I’m excited for the win, but [there are] definitely situations in that game I personally could’ve handled better.”

This version of the Buffaloes’ offense looked a whole lot like last season, with a terrifying passing game but virtually no ground attack. Colorado was outrushed 157-59 on Thursday night. The overhauled offensive line gave up only one sack, but Sanders spent quite a bit of time scrambling.

The Colorado defense remains a work in progress under new defensive coordinator Robert Livingston. Miller scored on a 20-yard scramble to make it 31-26 with 2:19 left. His pass on a two-point conversion was incomplete.

“There’s nothing good about losing,” Miller said. “But I do feel like offensively and defensively, this is going to give us a lot of confidence.”

New North Dakota State coach Tim Polasek had his team on the cusp of an upset. The Bison led 20-17 at halftime with Miller orchestrating the offense to near perfection. He finished with two rushing TDs and threw for another. The Bison showed a national audience precisely why they are ranked No. 2 in the FCS preseason polls.

“The difference in the game comes down to they made a few more plays than we did,” Polasek said. “I really believe that.”

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Florida freshman WR Wilson to debut vs. Texas

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Florida freshman WR Wilson to debut vs. Texas

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has offensive help on the way with a freshman receiver who just might make a difference against No. 9 Texas on Saturday.

Dallas Wilson is practicing for the first time since injuring his left foot in training camp and is scheduled to make his collegiate debut against the Longhorns, coach Billy Napier said Monday.

Napier called Wilson’s availability “a big deal.”

“Three good days of work last week, and I thought he handled the load well,” Napier said. “He feels really good. So far, so good.”

Wilson, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound newcomer from Tampa, was the star of Florida’s spring game in April. He caught 10 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns, and all indications in fall practice pointed to it not being a fluke.

But Wilson injured his foot late in camp, spent weeks in a protective boot and watched from afar as the Gators (1-3, 0-1 SEC) struggled to move the ball and find the end zone. Florida scored 16, 10 and 7 points, respectively, in consecutive losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, raising speculation about Napier’s future in Gainesville.

Quarterback DJ Lagway has been the focus of the team’s offensive woes. The sophomore who went 6-1 as a starter last season missed most of the year dealing with injuries and looked rusty when the season began.

Although Lagway’s mechanics seemed improved in the team’s 26-7 setback at Miami on Sept. 20, his offensive line got manhandled and allowed way too much pressure for anyone to notice. Lagway completed 12 of 23 passes for 61 yards against the Hurricanes.

Napier used the off week to get Lagway more live-action reps in hopes of getting him “caught up.” But he also reiterated the need to “play better around him.”

“Each position group needs to step up,” Napier said. “More detail, eliminate errors, eliminate penalties, whatever the case may be. I just think more detail and better overall play around him. And, obviously, he needs to continue to get back closer to being himself.”

Adding Wilson to the mix should help.

The Gators haven’t shown much depth at receiver. Freshman Vernell Brown III has been Lagway’s go-to guy, catching 18 passes for 219 yards. But Eugene Wilson III, J. Michael Sturdivant and Aidan Mizell have been mostly underwhelming.

Dallas Wilson has been unable to help — until now. The Gators are confident he will change the narrative against the No. 1 scoring defense in the SEC.

“Just having him out is going to be amazing for us,” Lagway said. “His ability to go deep, his ability to make plays underneath and be able to make miraculous plays with the ball in his hands, it’s going to be great to have him back.”

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Finebaum mulls leaving ESPN for U.S. Senate run

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Finebaum mulls leaving ESPN for U.S. Senate run

SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said Monday that he would consider leaving ESPN to run for the U.S. Senate, representing Alabama.

The 70-year-old Finebaum said during a recent interview with Outkick that he’d run as a Republican to fill the seat vacated by former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who has said he’ll run for Alabama governor in the 2026 elections. Tuberville’s current Senate term ends in 2027.

The qualifying deadline to run for Senate is Jan. 26, 2026. Finebaum said he would likely have to leave his hosting and analyst duties if he decided to run. He told Outkick he’d make a decision within the next 30-45 days.

Finebaum said he hadn’t seriously considered politics, but the assassination of Charlie Kirk was the impetus to give a run at politics further thought. He noted that he had received a “text” from “one or two people in Washington” gauging his interest in politics.

“[It was] something I never thought about before,” Finebaum told Outkick.

Finebaum is currently registered as a Republican in North Carolina, where he works for the SEC Network. He told Outkick he recently moved to Alabama, where he hosted a radio show for years, and would re-register there.

Finebaum hosted radio shows in Alabama for almost 30 years before joining ESPN and the SEC Network. He started his media career as a newspaper writer and columnist.

“Alabama has always been the place I’ve felt the most welcome, that I’ve cared the most about the people,” he said. “I’ve spoken to people from Alabama for 35 years, and I feel there is a connection that is hard to explain.”

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Petrino overhauls staff, fires defensive assistants

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Petrino overhauls staff, fires defensive assistants

Bobby Petrino has fired three defensive assistants just one day after being named interim head coach at Arkansas as part of an overhaul of the Razorbacks’ coaching staff.

Petrino dismissed defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and defensive assistant Marcus Woodson in the latest moves after being appointed interim coach for the rest of the season to replace Sam Pittman, who was fired Sunday following five-plus seasons as Arkansas’ head coach.

“I just felt like how we performed on Saturday gave me an indication that maybe Sam had lost the team a little bit because they generally had played really hard for him throughout his tenure,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said of the move, which came on the heels of a 56-13 home loss to Notre Dame.

Petrino, 64, returned to Arkansas in 2023 as offensive coordinator after serving in a number of jobs. In four years as the Razorbacks’ head coach, he went 34-17, including consecutive seasons with double-digit victories in 2010 and 2011.

“Coach Petrino, as we met yesterday, he accepted this opportunity with the understanding that he also wanted an opportunity to formally be a candidate for our head coaching position, and he will have that opportunity, but we’ll also subsequently run a search for our next head coach at the same time,” Yurachek said.

Pittman’s dismissal, Petrino’s temporary promotion and the defensive assistant dismissals weren’t the only changes. Chris Wilson was named the team’s interim defensive coordinator.

Petrino had high praise for Wilson, who was in his first year with the Razorbacks as an assistant defensive line coach.

“My experience [with Wilson] goes way back to having to battle against him when he had all the great defensive linemen at Mississippi State,” Petrino said. “Very, very impressed with what he’s done throughout his career. Guy’s got a Super Bowl ring. He brings a lot of credibility into the room.”

Several defensive players posted cryptic messages on social media following the firing of Williams, who had served as the team’s defensive coordinator since 2023. Yurachek and Petrino encouraged players to welcome change amid a 2-3 start to the season.

“The No. 1 thing is, you have to get used to change. You know, your whole life there’s going to be change. So how we handle that, our attitude on how we handle that, will determine how quickly we improve,” Petrino said.

Petrino was involved in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in April 2012 that left him with four broken ribs. At first, he said he was riding alone, but a police report revealed a woman was riding with him. The woman turned out to be a former Arkansas athlete who was in a romantic relationship with the married Petrino. The coach had given her a job in the football program and a $20,000 gift.

Petrino was fired by then-athletic director Jeff Long for misleading his bosses about what happened with the accident and his relationship with the football staffer.

Pittman, 63, went 32-34 with the Razorbacks.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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