Prime Time Climb

September 5, 2023

By: Carlos Alvarez

Welcome Back

September sports are in the house! A scintillating sports weekend left little to be desired. College football was a three-day rollercoaster (Colorado → Florida State → Duke).

Top seeds are tumbling out of the U.S. Open. Team Euro made their Ryder Cup picks. The U.S. is no longer perfect at the FIBA World Cup. And MLB wild card races highlight a seemingly endless barrage of sports to start September. Most importantly, it\’s Week 1 of the NFL season. Let’s kick it off with everybody’s favorite game…

Letter Rip!

CFB

Prime Time: Belief in Boulder

\"\"/ — *Photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images*

Deion Sanders & His Band of Buffs Deliver Shock Upset in Week 1

Do you believe now?! Plenty of storylines and amazing highlights filled the airwaves after Week 1 of the college football season, but one story was the talk of the nation. Deion Sanders and Colorado — coming of a 1-11 season and the biggest roster overhaul in college football history — went into Fort Worth and handed #17 TCU a stunning upset (45-42). The Buffs entered the season with the lowest projected win total in the Big 12 (3.5 games), while TCU was the CFB National Championship runner-ups just eight months ago. Sanders hasn’t stopped making headlines since he left Jackson State for Colorado last offseason, and his band of Buffs just took college football by storm. Sparked by Sanders’ two sons — Shedeur (QB) and Shilo (CB) — as well as two-way superstar WR/CB Travis Hunter and RB Dylan Edwards, Colorado rung up 45 on the road against one of the conference’s best teams. And they looked good doing it. Shedeur broke the school record for passing yards (510) while Travis Hunter looks like Deion reincarnated at cornerback.

After the game, Coach Prime walked his swaggy (but deserving) attitude into the press conference where he reminded reporters that he kept receipts on disbelief in his program and coaching style. “Do you believe now?! You still don’t believe…”

Deion and the boys from Boulder will have more chances to captivate the non-believers in the months ahead — Nebraska, #15 Oregon, #6 USC, Stanford, #18 Oregon State and #14 Utah are waiting. We’ll be watching. But for now? This new brand of Buffs is simply unbelievable.

Colorado Stat Stuffers

QB Shedeur Sanders: 38/47, 510 yards, 4 TDs

RB Dylan Edwards: 11 touches, 180 yards, 4 TDs

WR/CB Travis Hunter: 11 catches, 119 yards, 1 INT

WR Jimmy Horn Jr.: 11 catches, 117 yards, 1 TD

CB Shilo Sanders: 9 tackles

Watch: Colorado Shocks #17 TCU (45-42) on the Road to Open Deion Sanders Era

College Football Highlights

Top-15 Scoreboard

#1 Georgia def. UT Martin (48-7)

#2 Michigan def. East Carolina (30-3)

#3 Ohio State def. Indiana (23-3)

#4 Alabama def. Middle Tennessee (56-7)

#8 Florida State def. #5 LSU (45-24)

#6 USC def. Nevada (66-14)

#7 Penn State def. West Virginia (38-15)

Duke def. #9 Clemson (28-7)

#10 Washington def. Boise State (56-19)

#11 Texas def. Rice (37-10)

#12 Tennessee def. Virginia (49-13)

#13 Notre Dame def. Tennessee State (56-3)

#14 Utah def. Florida (24-11)

#15 Oregon def. Portland State (81-7)

= Upset Alert

Heisman Watch (Notable Stats)

QB M. Penix Jr. (WASH): 29/40, 450 yards, 5 TDs

QB C. Williams (USC): 18/24, 319 yards, 5 TDs

QB J. Travis (FSU): 23/31, 342 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT

QB B. Nix (ORE): 23/27, 287 yards, 3 TDs

QB Q. Ewers (TEX): 19/30, 260 yards, 3 TDs

ESPN: Colorado Attracts Huge Betting Interest, Dramatic Heisman Odds Movement

CBS Sports: Deion Sanders Made Believers Out of Many, But It’s a Long Season

B/R: Colorado’s Deion Sanders After TCU Upset: ‘We Told You We Coming… We Keep Receipts’

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TENNIS

Top Women\’s Seeds Fall

\"\"/ — *Photo: Robert Prange / Getty Images*

With #1 Iga Swiatek, #3 Jessica Pegula & #5 Ons Jabeur Out, The Path is Open for #6 Coco Gauff’s First Slam

Down they go! The first weekend of the U.S. Open is a wrap, and while a number of the top seeds are still standing in the men’s draw, the women’s bracket is anybody’s guess. After #6 Coco Gauff took down Caroline Wozniacki in a star-studded showdown, No. 1 Iga Swiatek fell to #20 Jelena Ostapenko and #3 Jessica Pegula was swept by #17 Madison Keys. The door is opening for Gauff as she picks up steam entering today’s quarterfinals. Meanwhile, #1 Carlos Alcaraz and #2 Novak Djokovic are still swinging after the Djoker rallied from two sets down on Friday in an absolute display of survival against #32 Laslo Djere. It’s Week 2 in New York! We’ll keep ‘em coming.

Round of 16 Highlights

Women’s Singles

#20 J. Ostapenko def. #1 I. Swiatek (3-6, 6-3, 6-1)

#2 A. Sabalenka def. #13 D. Kasatkina (6-1, 6-3)

#17 M. Keys def. #3 J. Pegula (6-1, 6-3)

#23 Q. Zheng def. #5 O. Jabeur (6-2, 6-4)

#6 C. Gauff def. C. Wozniacki (6-3, 3-6, 6-1)

#9 M. Vondrousova def. P. Stearns (6-7, 6-3, 6-2)

#10 K. Muchova def. X. Wang (6-3, 5-7, 6-1)

Men’s Singles

#1 C. Alcaraz def. M. Arnaldi (6-3, 6-3, 6-4)

#2 N. Djokovic def. B. Gojo (6-2, 7-5, 6-4)

#3 D. Medvedev def. #13 A. de. Minaur (2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2)

#12 A. Zverev def. #6 J. Sinner (6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3)

#8 A. Rublev def. J. Draper (6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4)

#9 T. Fritz def. D. Stricker (7-6, 6-4, 6-4)

#10 F. Tiafoe def. R. Hijikata (6-4, 6-1, 6-4)

Today’s Schedule (Quarterfinals)

M: #2 N. Djokovic vs. #9 T. Fritz (1:15 pm ET)

M: #10 F. Tiafoe vs. B. Shelton (8:15 pm ET)

W: #6 C. Gauff vs. #20 J. Ostapenko (Noon ET)

W: #10 K. Muchova vs. #30 S. Cirstea (7:00 pm ET)

Sky Sports: ‘One of the Toughest Matches I’ve Played Here’ — Djokovic Relieved After Surviving Laslo Djere

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GOLF

Europe\’s Ryder Cup Picks

\"\"/ — *Photo: Andrew Redington / Getty Images*

Team Europe Captain Luke Donald Makes His 6 Selections to Finalize Ryder Cup Rosters

The Ryder Cup rosters are set! Luke Donald made his remaining six captain’s picks for Team Europe’s squad on Monday following the final two automatic qualifiers — Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton. They joined the foursome of McIlroy, Rahm, Hovland, and Fitzpatrick, all top-10 in World Golf Rankings (WGR). The six picks by Donald featured four experienced candidates choices, but two rookie surprises will make their first Ryder Cup appearances in 2023. Team Europe hasn’t lost on home soil in 30 years. Here’s the team:

Rookie Surprise Picks: Ludvig Aberg & Nicolai Hojgaard

Team Europe $\"🇪🇺\"$ (WGR)

Rory McIlroy (2nd)

Jon Rahm (3rd)

Viktor Hovland (4th)

Matt Fitzpatrick (8th)

Tyrrell Hatton (13th)

Tommy Fleetwood (14th)

Sepp Straka (23rd)

Justin Rose (34th)

Shane Lowry (37th)

Robert MacIntyre (55th)

Nicolai Hojgaard (78th)

Ludvig Aberg (90th)

Team USA $\"🇺🇸\"$

S. Scheffler, X. Schauffele, P. Cantlay, R. Fowler, B. Koepka, W. Clark, B. Harman, J. Spieth, J. Thomas, S. Burns, C. Morikawa, M. Homa

Ryder Cup: Sept. 29 — Oct. 1

Marco Simone Golf Club (Rome, Italy)

Golf Digest: Luke Donald Rounds Out European Ryder Cup Team With Notable Veterans & Some (Very) New Blood

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FIBA

Down, But Not Out

\"\"/ — *Photo: Yong Teck Lim / Getty Images*

Lithuania Upsets Team USA at FIBA World Cup (110-104); Spain Crashes Out as Field Trimmed to Final 8

Team USA’s perfect run at the 2023 FIBA World Cup came to an end on Sunday morning, but it’s not over for the stars and stripes. The U.S. squeaked by Montenegro on Friday (85-73) in a nerve-racking affair. Come Sunday, their 4-0 start hit its first snag. Lithuania jumped on Team USA with a 31-12 blowout first quarter. Steve Kerr’s squad fought back to make it a game in the second half, but Lithuania got the best of Team USA (110-104). Anthony Edwards’s 35-point performance wasn’t enough to take down an opponent with just three NBA players on the roster. They’re still moving on to the quarterfinals, but they weren’t the only top team who got caught sleeping on an Eastern European squad…

Spain Sent Packing: Spain was the other dominant favorite who fell in the second round, losing to Latvia (74-69) in a stunner before getting knocked out by Canada (88-85).

Eight teams remain. Both the USA and Canada are still alive with one loss on the resume, and six European squads look amped to target the North American powerhouses. Next up? It’s USA vs. Italy this morning.

FIBA World Cup Bracket (Quarterfinals)

$\"🇱🇹\"$ Lithuania vs. $\"🇷🇸\"$ Serbia (Tues. 4:45 am ET)