Russell Wilson vs. Sean Payton at Empower Field.
Deion Sanders vs. Jay Norvell in the Rocky Mountain Showdown in FoCo.
Mines vs. West Texas A&M in Golden.
UNC vs. Abilene Christian in Greeley.
The NFL schedule release a few days back had Team GTW whipping out its monthly planners, surfing the travel sites and getting jazzed for the autumn to come.
I mean, yeah, sure, (commence air quotes) conventional wisdom (end air quotes) says the Broncos are staring at a rebuilding year. But the Buffs should (fingers crossed) bowl under Deion Sanders and Jay Norvell’s third Rammies season could go in about nine different directions, depending on the football fates.
The good news? No matter what, there’s about 20 straight weeks of cool gridiron stuff to come, and the swag of Coach Prime and the chutzpah of Sean Payton continue to make the Front Range one of the epicenters of the football universe as we know it.
But we think one weekend, in particular, sticks out. In a good way.
Sept. 14-15: Denver’s best football weekend of 2024? — A-minus
Actually, two weekends. But Broncos vs. Big Russ cuts so deep, the hate so profound, that those sexy 48 hours in mid-September get the nod.
Runner up: Nov. 16-17. Granted, Utah-CU didn’t take off as a Pac-12 rivalry the way that Larry Scott promised. Come to think of it, nothing really took off the way that Luxury Suite Larry promised. Except for his checking account.
But the GTW crew is willing to wager that Saturday, Nov. 16, when the Utes come to BoCo, is setting up to be an epic home showdown for Sanders and his Buffs. For one, health permitting, it’ll be the first — and only — time CU’s QB1, Shedeur Sanders, lines up against what’s traditionally a nasty Utes defensive front. For another, our GTW number-crunchers are fairly convinced that the Utah game is likely to be the one that gets CU a chance to notch either seven victories, clinching a winning season in The Prime Era; or six wins, which would make the postseason a certainty.
Meanwhile up in FoCo, The Battle For The Bronze Boot speaks for itself. Norvell needs some rivalry pelts on his wall.
Sunday: Bo Nix vs. Michael Penix Jr. at Empower. (Or Bo Nix vs. Kirk Cousins. Probably Kirk Cousins. But, hey, why not dream?) Bonus: Mines vs. Fort Lewis in Golden. And UNC vs. NAU for Senior Day in Greeley.
Not quite the third weekend in September. But pretty dang salty.
Brenton Doyle — A
Big No. 9’s defense plays anywhere, but when a “glove-first” guy gets into a groove, it’s the kind of tide that lifts all boats. From May 10-15, the Rockies center fielder hit .316 (6 for 19) with five walks, a .458 OBP and a .956 OPS with four steals. No shock: The Fightin’ Purple went 6-0 during that stretch.
Full disclosure: The GTW’s Strat-O-Matic subset loves the idea of Bud Black’s guys running more, being aggressors and putting pressure on the opposing defense, whether that’s home or away. And here’s why: The Rox are 6-1 in the seven games this season in which Doyle steals a base. Since the start of the ’23 campaign, they’re 20-8. Here we go, Go-Go Rox!
Chad Kelly — F
John Elway’s great hope had a great season with the CFL before the roof caved in, thanks to some unsavory and very serious off-field allegations … again. Dude’s not just running out of chances. Pretty soon, he’s going to be running out of countries.
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.