Paul Finebaum Declares Colorado Is Worthless In The World Of College Football

As they did before and during the 2023 season, Deion Sanders and his Colorado squad are making headlines ahead of 2024.

The Buffaloes have again brought in a transfer portal class with around 50 new players, and thanks to an extensive piece by The Athletic earlier in the offseason, we got a look at how rough the environment was for players from the previous regime when Sanders took over.

For those who don't remember, it was reported that Sanders and company did not take too kindly to players from Karl Dorrell's 1-11 team. Those players were essentially given the cold shoulder and were cut from the team for new players to be brought in by Sanders' staff.

During an appearance on GoJo and Golic , ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum was asked about the culture and whether or not it was something that concerned him.

“It should, and some pretty enlightening reporting,” Finebaum said Friday. “I don’t want to back away from anything I’ve ever said, but it was the first week of the SEC Media Days and you guys have been there both. You start throwing things up against the wall, and Lincoln Riley, I probably got a little carried (away with). I think he’s a good coach, I don’t think he’s a great coach, and I think his record in big games speaks for itself. I just threw Deion out there, and that was prior to the reporting.”

Finebaum also appeared to retract his comments about Sanders being a possible replacement for USC head coach Lincoln Riley, which he made after bashing Riley at SEC media days. He did, however, double down on the fact that the Colorado program itself is pretty much irrelevant and that it is Sanders who people are actually tuning in for.

“I’m just not impressed with what he’s done,” Finebaum said regarding Sanders. “And I started talking about the relevancy of Colorado, and his son got very upset, came after me, and so did others. And my point is it’s about Deion Sanders, it’s not about Colorado. Colorado is worthless. They don’t mean anything in the world of college football. Deion does and he needs to show something, and unless he does, I wouldn’t suggest anybody like USC hires him.”

Finebaum is clearly saying that Sanders are two separate entities even despite the fact that their fan base has grown dramatically over the past year.

While typically going 4-8 isn't considered a good season, when you consider just how poor the program looked before Sanders arrived, it does have to mean a little that he was able to win that many games. It is also worth noting that Colorado was on the wrong end of five one-score games, which shows that even despite their tremendous struggles in the trenches, they were competitive.

In addition, record numbers of fans were tuning in seemingly every week to watch Sanders' squad, something that Finebaum did say Sanders would do at USC: bring the spotlight.

“But in the world we live in, guys in the media world that you both been part of a long time, most of that doesn’t matter," Finebaum said. "It’s how much conversation can you create and in LA, nobody could create more conversation than Deion Sanders."

According to FanDuel, Colorado's win total for Sanders' second season is set at 5.5.

Related: Deion Sanders Makes Major Personal Announcement Ahead Of CFB Season