Deion Sanders to USC? Paul Finebaum has bold take on Colorado HC's future at Big Ten powerhouse

Ever since he took the Colorado job in December 2022, coach Deion Sanders has generated headlines perhaps more than any other college football coach in that period. He has also been linked to several different jobs away from Boulder, especially with his sons, Shilo and Shedeur Sanders, poised to depart for the NFL via the 2025 draft.

The latest link away from the job for "Coach Pime" came from none other than veteran college football reporter Paul Finebaum. The analyst linked Sanders to the USC coaching job currently held by Lincoln Riley during Monday's episode of ESPN's "First Take."

“Instead of harping on Lincoln Riley, I decided to come up with a solution. I thought about this the other day. OK, maybe [Lincoln Riley] does well, maybe he doesn’t. But the answer is really moving forward, and I believe the answer after this season is Deion Sanders,” Finebaum said. “He’s going to be tired of Colorado, because quite frankly it’s not prime time.

“He’s done as well as he can with his son and Travis Hunter and all the Stephen A. and Shannon Sharpe appearances. But that’s really going to dry up this year, because they’re not going to be that great.

“But you put Prime in Tinseltown, and I think you have one of the great combinations in history. … I think Deion Sanders as the coach at Southern Cal is the answer to the problems.”

The war of words between Deion Sanders and Paul Finebaum

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum linking coach Deion Sanders to the USC Trojans job completes a confusing war of words that he started directed at the Buffs coach last week.

Speaking during the SEC media days, Finebaum controversially disregarded the importance of Colorado on the college football ladder.

"I know that the media loves this story and we fall all over ourselves but Colorado isn't important in college football," Finebaum said. "Deion Sanders is. He's a standalone person. He's one of the most charismatic coaches (we have), but Colorado is nothing. They don't matter. They're irrelevant in the big picture of college football."

This week during the "Paul Finebaum Show," he further rubbished Colorado's chances of even making the College Football Playoff this coming season.

Sanders decided to take the high road after the criticism from Finebaum. He reposted a post criticizing the ESPN analyst's take on him and his program with an uncharacteristically low-key message.

"God is good my brother & they mad mad! I sense a bit of anger & hostility. Lolololololol God bless @RGIII for always keeping it 100," Sanders wrote.

Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes will likely have all the eyes of the college football world on them during year two of what has proven to be one of the most talked-about projects in the history of the FBS.