Week one doesn’t exactly open with a wall of marquee college football games, but Georgia Tech and Colorado still give Atlanta a matchup worth circling.
The headliners are familiar: Brent Key is still running Georgia Tech, and Deion Sanders is still leading Colorado. Beyond that, though, this feels like a different game than the one these teams played last season.
Both programs are bringing in two new coordinators, new starting quarterbacks and a long list of fresh faces across the roster. Georgia Tech has a little more continuity in a few spots, but even the Yellow Jackets are dealing with plenty of change, especially on offense.
That’s what makes this one so interesting. In a season opener, neither side is likely to be clean from start to finish. The real question is which team settles in faster, makes fewer mistakes and puts together enough quality football to grab a non-conference win.
Nobody is calling this a must-win, and for good reason. One loss here won’t wreck either season.
But the timing gives it extra weight. Georgia Tech gets Tennessee in week two, while Colorado’s September also includes road games at Northwestern and Baylor, plus a matchup with Big 12 favorite Texas Tech.
The Yellow Jackets are favored, and a win would give them a needed lift before facing the Volunteers. Colorado, coming off a 3-9 season, would love nothing more than to walk into Atlanta and spoil the opener for Georgia Tech while building some early momentum of its own.
At quarterback, both teams are turning to new starters. Lewis has the edge in experience since he played last season, while Mendoza is getting his first start after backing up his brother Fernando a year ago.
Lewis is also coming home. He played high school football in Georgia before heading to Colorado, adding another layer to a game already loaded with new faces and fresh storylines.
Both quarterbacks are talented and both are expected to have big seasons. The only real question is which one gets the upper hand next Thursday.
In Other News...
Brent Key's Portal Approach Says A Lot About Georgia Tech's Future
Recruiting Albert Mendoza offered a pretty clear look at how Brent Key wants Georgia Tech to build through the transfer portal. The process is never just about talent, since Key has stressed competitiveness, character and eligibility as part of the evaluation, especially at quarterback. For a program trying to keep moving forward, that kind of filtering matters as much as the names that end up on the board.
Keys comments also pointed to something else Georgia Tech has been trying to protect: the progress along both lines. He said he was pleased with the development and maturity of the offensive and defensive fronts, which is a good sign for a team that wants its portal additions to complement, not replace, what is already in place. The broader message is pretty simple. Georgia Tech is looking for difference-makers, but only if they fit the culture and the timeline. [Read more 🡒]
Deion Sanders Now Has An Off-Field Issue Hanging Over Colorado
A Colorado bankruptcy court judge has added another layer of uncertainty around Deion Sanders, ruling that the Buffaloes coach must be available to potentially testify virtually on Sept. 4 in the bankruptcy trial involving his son, Shilo Sanders. The hearing stems from Shilos effort to discharge more than $11 million tied to a 2022 default judgment connected to a 2015 altercation with John Darjean, turning a family legal matter into something that now reaches into the coachs professional calendar.
For now, the testimony would only come into play on a rebuttal basis, and only if Shilos defense team opens the door to prior testimony, which it does not currently intend to do. Even so, the courts ruling leaves Deion Sanders with an off-field issue hanging over him at a time when Colorado would rather keep the focus on football, and the situation could still shift depending on how the bankruptcy case unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Is Battling Heavyweights For A Defensive Back Fans Need To Watch
A rising recruiting battle is taking shape around Jaelyn Easterling-Flores, the four-star safety from Goodyear, Arizona, who is already drawing attention as one of the top 2028 prospects in the country. The list of finalists is a deep one, with LSU, Texas, Auburn, Oklahoma, Miami and Georgia Tech all still in the mix, which tells you plenty about how early this race has become and how seriously major programs are treating him.
For Georgia Tech, being mentioned alongside that group is notable on its own, especially with the Yellow Jackets continuing to push for the kind of defensive back talent that can change the ceiling of a class. Easterling-Flores has plenty of time before a decision, and with several blue-blood programs still involved, the next phase of this recruitment will be about which staff can keep building momentum while the others keep making their own case. [Read more 🡒]