Andy & Ari On3 - Colorado STUNS Georgia Tech: Deion Sanders and the Buffs RUIN Alberto Mendoza’s Debut with GT

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Join Andy & Ari here as the guys react to the finish of the Colorado Buffaloes vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets! Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes SHOCK the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta!Our show is presented by Polymarket!New User Offer: Deposit $10, get $50 upon sign uphttps://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/ON3Trade on College Football games every week on Polymarket. Download the Polymarket App with code ON3 for a $20 bonus upon sign up.18+ only. Restrictions and eligibility requirement apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur.Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/-SC1EDR4ZK0 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River BaileyInterested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On tonight's instant reaction show presented by a polymarket, Colorado stuns Georgia Tech in a slog that turned into a thriller. That is how you bring back college football in earnest in week one. Forget the court cases. Settle it on the field, baby. Let's talk. Coach Prime and the buffs beaten Georgia Tech in Atlanta. We are sponsored by Polymarket. that's right, the world's largest prediction market.

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18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. Welcome to Annie on 3 presented by Polymarket. It is an instant reaction show. Ari is just laughing because producer river, the Vol for Life, had some choice words about former Vol Bu Carter. Right after Georgia Tech hit that, what was the 42-yard gain? Yeah. To set up the, what been the game winning field goal and then boo carter block the field goal yeah you know you don't guys don't get to see behind the scenes but i was sitting in the room uh andy hadn't in the room yet and uh river was watching it i was watching it but i could hear his commentary and you know part of my french here

but like when he blocked the fuel goal river just goes fucking boo carter man there's like a shattered ball behind the scenes um and it was just it was pure college football fandom but i mean hell andy that was a pretty good appetizer for what i think's going to be a really good weekend So, you know, I got people in the chat, doubting, doubting Dion, I didn't forget, Ari. It's just like, all right, guys. Like, what are we doing? But they remember, they remember that I told you, don't make any assumptions about this game. Two new coordinators on both sides of the ball.

Colorado's going to keep it close. And I'm not going to say I predict that they were going to win outright because I was sitting there basically when Colorado got the ball back at the end going, take three, take knees, Dion. You're going to cover. Take knees. But, yeah. No, Ju-Jew Lewis on the wheel route. What a play.

Also, how about the draw on third and 12, knowing that Georgia Tech was not going to cover, which is not going to have anybody in the box? Yeah, there's one thing that no one's ever going to say is that Brendan Marion can't call an offense. You know, I think what is so funny about the sport is that if they don't, if Colorado isn't score in that beautiful wheel route and that beautiful throw by Juju at the end, like the commentary about what we saw there for three and a half quarters

is much different. But I'll tell you one thing, man. When we were doing the picture and we were talking about this game, you know, we kept coming back to Georgia Tech's toughness and owning the lines of scrimmage and joking about the video. I'm saying I did. I know. I know. And the thing is that you can't make assumptions when teams turn over like this. And Georgia Tech's offensive line was not good. They ran the ball pretty well with Justice Haynes, the first series,

and then Colorado shut them down on the ground, really until the late in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Colorado's offensive line was making holes. Absolutely making holes against George's Defensive line. The June and July videos of Colorado's size

as a team might have been a little understated, but, you know. Yeah, Guy, help you get a little public service announcement. when the video is of specialists do not make assumptions about a team's overall size. Also, if one of their strength coaches happens to be a lady and you think that's a reason to dunk on them, you're an idiot. I saw a lot of that going around the internet. Like, they look pretty freaking tough out there tonight.

Yeah. One aside is a takeaway to the game, Andy, that I just wanted to make sure I said before I forget. But I think that a lot of Georgia Tech's toughness, obviously there's been a lot of turnover and, you know, college football, it's hard to keep together a team. But I think that there is a massive underappreciation just in general in like how big of a dog, Haynes King himself was as a player. And I just like want to like go back. Because I think like I think that Haynes King was so good and was so tough. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. We got a big tough guy here.

Andy, shut up and review the game. This is a person who cries because there might be a strong woman out there. Dude, we're so live and we're really wanting anything to do with them. Yeah. You know, do you ever wonder how we make it through the summer? I love these people. These people are so tough behind their cue. Oh, I can't have a lady strike coach giving any pep talks.

Yeah. Enjoy your aloneness tonight, buddy. Dude, you're fritly in midseason four, man. We just get this. It's the first Thursday of the year, man. cannot stand people like that and I just love it. What I was going to say is I just wanted to have proper respect for Haynes King because I think that he like kind of transformed the entire toughness of the team.

And that's not to say that Georgia Tech won't be tough or that they're finished or whatever. But, you know, the thing that I did not have on my bingo card tonight, Andy, it's not that, you know, Juju Louis would throw a game winning touchdown or they would block a field goal to win the game, all these things. But the way that Colorado ran the ball, the way that they stopped the run, like there's a the number one criticisms of the Colorado program since the beginning, which is, you know, they have some flashy skill position players, obviously, especially when Shidwer Sanders and Travis Hunter were there, it was all about flashy skill, but not enough substance or toughness.

Like, dude, Colorado won that game because they were the freaking tougher team. Like, and like, you can't take anything away from them. And I didn't think it was a very pretty game to watch for most of it. I think Colorado's offense, like, stunk for most of it. Everybody's got a lot of things to work on. Yeah. But you want to talk about winning in the margins and winning on things that, like, people doubted that Prime's team would have.

like I think that they deserve a lot of credit for winning that game, especially in Atlanta playing Georgia Tech. It's a tough open. There's a lot of teams that are playing much easier openers. And frankly, Andy, teams in the Big Ten who got their ass kicked by UMass earlier in the afternoon. So, like, you know, I know in River knew we might be earned to that a little bit. But like, I don't know that I come away with this thinking that Colorado is going to make the playoff.

But like, you know, you also have to like take into account a lot of people, I think even myself included to a certain extent are wondering, is this the last year we have prime in college football? Like is Dionne Sanders going to be done at the end of the year? I think the theme going into the game. And I think a lot of people, Dan Wilkin wrote an interesting column about it. And several other people kind of wrote this and talked about this.

And I think it is the accurate way to come into the game without knowing what was going to happen in the game or without knowing it's going to happen this season is this is the year we judge Dion Sanders purely as a football coach. Deon Sanders as a phenomenon, we already know. Dionne Sanders as a player, obviously one of the greatest of all time. Dion Sanders as a celebrity, we know about. This allows us to judge him as a football coach.

He came in with no hype. He had to replace both coordinators. Now, remember, he actually, his defense coordinator that he hired left to go to the NFL, and then he promoted Chris Marv. So he actually had to do it twice on defense. And then we talked a lot about Brendan Marion coming over from being the head coach of Sacramento State. But we are judging Dion Sanders on his ability as a football coach.

Well, okay, if we're going to do that, do we think Dion Sanders managed the end of that game pretty well? Because I think he did. Yeah. I think he handled it really well. And you can say whatever you want about what happened the first three and a half quarters and it wasn't pretty. But Colorado figured out what was working and what wasn't working. and what wasn't working, stuck with what was working.

Defensively, they gave up one touchdown on defense. Because remember, the other touchdown was a kickoff return. So the thing that we've had an answer to for years. This is a radical reinvention of this team based on what we saw last year. Yeah, the thing that we've had an answer to since the beginning, which is I believe a lot of people thought when Dion was hired that it was a gimmick hire based on just like trying to draw as much attention to the University of Colorado is possible. You know, you want the celebrities and Randy Moss or whoever else was,

you know, on the sidelines of the first few games of his tenure there, that it was supposed to be like a circus act that was about attention with the chains and all the things that people criticize them about. But the thing that we found out about the Colorado teams the last few years, even when they haven't been very good is that they've typically been very well coached. Like coached in a way. Sorry. My mistake, by the way, I said two, I said they gave a touchdown. They gave two field goals in defense, not two field goals. And then the touchdown was the was the kickoff return. Yeah, yeah. But they've actually, in my opinion, been very well coached,

especially considering the fact that outside of some pretty remarkable players and his son, they haven't been the most talented team from top to bottom when comparing him to the actual elite programs in the sport. So, like, you know, I think that he deserves a lot of credit for, you know, and the other thing, too, and like I have been critical of Dion plenty since he's been there. But the one thing that I have enduring respect for and something that, like, I don't think people really give him enough credit for is the fact that he just went through like a pretty debilitating illness

and like went through something that would have ended people's careers and something that's way less active. Stayed committed to the team despite the fact that he, you know, has been so forthcoming about his cancer stuff to like even be a part of this still. Like I mean, I have so much respect for him as a man for doing that. Right. If he didn't want to do this, if he didn't want to be successful as a college football coach, he could have said, I'm done.

I'm done. I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. So this is, but this is Dion Sanders of football. coach. And I'm impressed by the way they won because look, Ju-Ju-Louis did not have the best game. He was excellent on that last ride, but did not have a good game overall. The receivers were dropping balls left and right.

So I don't want to put it all on on Ju-Ju-Lewis because they could have played a better game, too. You have to go to your backup center midway through the third quarter. That's not easy either, like dealing with that. And you saw both teams were dealing with wet ball issues. And so I just, I'm impressed by the way Colorado won, by the way Colorado won the game. Because again, the teams of the Colorado had, even the Chatur and, Chedura and Travis Hunter teams would have probably been able to score more on

this Georgia Tech team. But I don't, I mean, would they have been able to run the ball like they did? I don't, I don't know. Like this team controlled the game and the defense was playing so well. So like, I think the total plays, Andy. the total plays, I think, was two to one. I think they ran 70-something. Colorado ran a lot up.

Their average per play, like, in the middle of the third quarter was not great. It got better and better as the game went on as they wore down Georgia Tech's defense. So I think they've hit on a style that can work in the new Big 12. If you don't watch much Big 12 football, you may think it's like it was back when Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes play. Big 12 is kind of a grinded out on the ground league now in a lot of places. Colorado's going to fit right in. Yeah. Yeah. So now that we've gotten 13 minutes of Colorado,

can we also just like talk about how amusing it is that Alberto Mendoza is identical twin to Fernando? Like that's the only thing I was taking the entire game. Like it looks exactly, look at this picture. Like I, it's him. Same face masks, same number, same mannerisms. They got to protect him better than that. You know, and I was joking earlier on because

you know, Alberto had some pretty good throws. And I do think it's funny just trying to envision like four weeks from now. If like Alberto's throwing dimes across the field and Josh Hoover struggles, like if like this is the first thing that people criticize Kurt Signetti over. I know we're getting way ahead of ourselves. But Georgia Tech plays Tennessee next week. Like I don't. A boo Carter list Tennessee.

You're envisioning Alberta Mendoza throwing dots all over the field. Like Georgia Tech fans right now are like, oh my God. what's going to happen against the Vols next week. Because if Josh Heipel was watching this game, and of course he's going to, if he wasn't watching it live, he's getting video of it. Deshaun Bishop is going to be run straight up the middle

over and over at Georgia Tech's defensive line. Andy, and they just predict that Georgia Tech's going to beat Tennessee. I thought he looked really good. And I thought that he looked a lot, like very reminiscent of like a person that one of the highest. They scored your offense and touchdowns. How good could he have looked?

I don't know. I don't know. I thought he looked awesome. You're right. You're right. I'm getting ahead of myself. I know. It's Thursday night. It's September 3rd. It's the first Thursday night we've gotten as a family here with 4,500 people watching. We're very excited. Because Ari, with, you know, three minutes to go in the game, I was like, I don't know if anybody's going to come to our live chat after this game because I don't think they're very excited. I think they might be asleep. And then boom, the whole thing just exploded. I don't know, like, if you're reading this live chat here, Andy. But it's like all very similarly toned and I don't understand it.

You know, what don't you understand? Tell me. The perception that like you and I are like Colorado haters and that like we are sad. You are. I picked him. No, I'm saying like you should be eating copious amounts of crow, but I picked him. Yeah. Nanny, nanny boo-boo.

Kind of four to one ticket I can show you when we're done here. You know, I mean, you're right on picks. You can't pick it for this show, but you can. We pick on Monday. A lot of things change before games start. But like, I do. I don't know that I view my, I've been critical, absolutely, of Dion. And I, uh, I still think that, you know, from a roster building standpoint,

I would have done things differently from the beginning if I were him. And that's never going to change. But, um, like this idea that like we're rooting for them to lose or that I want him to fail is wild to me, especially considering the fact that I don't feel like I've ever been like that I've written a lot of very complimentary column about him. You've been very me, listen, the Dion fans who are a different

group of people than the Colorado fans actually. Which is wild, yeah. There's not accept any criticism whatsoever. No criticism is allowed. You know what I noticed this, Andy? Funny enough, following Cleveland Brown's quarterback discourse, there's a lot of Dion Sanders fans

who inject themselves into that too that, like, aren't even sports fans, who get really passionate about it. They're also right that Shadur is currently better than Deshaun. Well, yeah. I mean, you're better than Deshaun Watson. I don't want us to go down that road. But, like, I'm happy they're here.

Like, welcome to the show. But, you know, I don't have any vested interest in seeing Dion Sanders fail. In fact, I'm remarkably humbled by the fact that he's still in the game. So that said, it's a long season, everyone. And, you know, I'm very curious to see how these two teams veer off into the future. But, you know, if you're a Colorado, fan and not a Dion fan, really happy for you. If you're a Dion fan, I'm really happy for you.

Yeah. Look, I think he... Did you see that last comment, Dion to FSU question mark? Listen, Ari, if they went a bunch of games, that is absolutely going to ramp up. And this were the Colorado fans, I'm like, guys, stop this. You're either mad at him, you're criticizing him, or now you're saying he's going to leave. Wait, do you actually want to go down that road? You're joking, right? Like, there's no way that he's...

Of course I'm joking. He would be hired. Yeah, okay. Oh, no, no, no. Ari, if he wins a bunch of games in Florida State fires Mike Norville, there will be a groundswell. What's a bunch of games? Let's say he wins eight, nine, which he has done before. He's done it before.

Yeah. That said, listen, we're putting the cart before the horse here. What are we supposed to do? It's Thursday night, September 3rd. It's the first time we got... How do we survive the summer without the shit? Ari. What a night, though.

It started with UMass just kicking the ever-loving crap out of Rutgers. Pop Watson. Pop Watson is a dog. Yeah, I bragged about my four-to-one ticket on Colorado. I bit the Rutgers live chain a little bit because I have some Rutgers friends that were up in my shit before the game started. You know who you are. No. But, yeah, dude, I don't know what that guy, I haven't looked it up yet, but like, what's

Pop's eligibility situation? Because that kid's electric. I believe this is the last year. Is it? Maybe there's one more year. Hold on. If there's one more year, Ray, we got Pete Nichols to start working the phones, man. That guy was awesome.

There's lawyers all over the country, just trying to figure out what to do with Pop. But he was, he was outstanding. So this was a great. start because, you know, that was the, that was the first game that kicked off tonight. So you have a Mac team going in and beating a big team 10 team. And yes, it was Rutgers, but the way it happened was just shocking. So you had that. And then you get this Colorado Georgia Tech game, which, look, it was, it was a rough watch for a while. I'm not going to lie. But the whole time I'm thinking, God, I'm so happy we have this back. And who knows,

Maybe something will happen. Maybe it'll liven up. And oh, my God, did it deliver? Because you had Colorado not being able to throw the ball at all, and all of a sudden, Ju-Ju-Louis is throwing dimes. And that wheel route was glorious for the touchdown. And then Georgia Tech, like Alberto hits that beautiful throw down the field to put them in field goal range.

And obviously, special teams has had such a huge impact on this game already because you had a Georgia Tech missed. field goal. You had a Georgia Tech kickoff return for touchdown. You had a six, nine guy for Georgia Tech blocking a Colorado field goal that would have tied the game at the time. And then you have Buch Carter blocking the field. Like every phase mattered. Every single phase. Yeah. I think that was about as much as we could have asked for for the first real taste of week one football. Yeah. Yes. And that's the thing. We said this. It's on page. paper a week slate, but that means there will be some shocking results.

I don't think Colorado, Georgia, Texas, shocking result because like I said, for the last few weeks coming into the game, when you've got new coordinators on both sides of the ball for both teams, just throw all your assumptions out. Do you think that what happened to Rutgers was a shocking result? Because I do. Yes. Yes. Like, do you think we're going to get more than that?

You mess had not won a game since they beat Wagner in October of 2024. Dude, I'm sure you were watching this. We all were watching it. but there was a touchdown in the second quarter, I think, and one of the players took the helmet off and just threw it, and it's just like, oh, God, Rutgers is good. Oh, yeah. I think that this is the hallmark of the new college football, too,

where you don't really know who rosters are completely. We do our best to do the guesswork and to do the research in the offseason as we have a daily show. But I'm very curious if we find out something new that we just do not see coming on Saturday. And I think there's a good chance that you might be able to, you know, maybe it manifested an upset or a team not looking good, or maybe a team looking great that we underestimated a little bit.

Like, I'm very curious to see, you know, and if you put Colorado on that category, I'll accept that of like, I thought that we're going to stink this year. Yeah, I'm not ready to make any grand proclamations about Colorado. But I do like the way they won the game because their offensive line opened holes, their defense shut down Georgia Tech's run game. Like that we talk about what will travel in college football. football, opening holes and shutting down run games, those two qualities travel. Those win you games, more than they lose you games.

Those are the things that work. So I am excited to see them because this is different. This is not, you know. Yes. There's a comment here. It says, Ari, come on, talk about the expensive watch. I want to talk about it. I would really like an AP one day.

And I think it's a beautiful watch. Are we talking about Juju's Automar Paraguay. Yeah. I really like it. Is that what you mean? Okay. I guess that I, he's asking you.

You're the host. I know what he means. You know what he means. It's stupid. I love his watch and I wish I could have it one day. Well, if you get better at throwing a football, then you might get one. I think there's other ways to make some money. We'll try to figure it out.

Having a big podcast is a good way to do it. That's right. You keep working on that. All right. So we are into the end season schedule. So there's no regular Friday. show. No, no 3 p.m. Eastern time Friday show during the season. We move that show to postgame Saturday, 11.30 p.m. Eastern. But I can tell you right now, Ari and I are going to join you live

after the games on Friday night. So there's a couple games that we're going to be monitoring. Not sure which one's going to blow the lid off like the Georgia Tech and Colorado game did. But you've got Fresno State USC. We'll keep our eyes on the crowd. 6 p.m. local start Friday night. A lot of traffic. We could do a 15-minute show if the stadium's empty, so just better show up. The crowd, crowd-sized discourse is

I've already loaded the weather channel up. I'm trying to figure out what it's going to feel like outside at night in L.A. Should be nice. Should be nice in the evening. Also, Miami coming off, making the national title game last year, opening the season at Stanford. Weird scheduling quirk, we already mentioned. Miami does not play a Saturday game until week four.

But yeah, they open at Stanford. They are 24 and a half point favorites on Bolly Market. There's a lot of 20 plus point spreads this week. But remember, UMass was a 29.5 point dog. And they went up there and beat that ass in Piscataway. I guess we did kind of mess up a little bit in our pick the upset. We didn't even have that as an option. I didn't even put it on the board.

I'm sorry. That's totally my fault. I wouldn't have picked it, though. So if that makes you feel better, it's not like we missed an opportunity there. Well, I'm excited to see what happens next because if this night is any indication, this is going to be a very fun season. We'll talk to you tomorrow.