On the other side of Colorado's enthralling, exhilarating debut to the Coach Prime era, there was a humbling, humiliating defeat. TCU, ranked No. 17, coming off a 13-2 season, lost outright at home as a 21-point favorite to what was essentially an FBS expansion team occupying Colorado's uniforms.
From the opening snap, Colorado looked like the team coming off a national championship appearance and TCU the team with a coaching staff and a roster playing its first game together.
The Buffaloes were poised and efficient, executing a game plan to move with pace and get the ball out Shedeur Sanders's hands quickly. CU opened with a 13-play, 73-yard touchdown drive; intercepted TCU quarterback Chandler Morris on his second possession; moved 49 yards before a missed field goal; and then marched 75 yards in 10 plays to take a 14-7 lead at the 9:28 mark of the second quarter.
Colorado built a lead as big as 24-14 before TCU rallied to take a 28-24 edge with 2:32 to play in the third quarter. The teams traded touchdowns on six consecutive possessions before CU's defense finally held serve, forcing a turnover on downs at its 43-yard line with 55 seconds to play.
After the game, Sonny Dykes was asked if his team came out over-confident to face a team that, in theory, went 1-11 a year ago.
"I don't know if that's the case. It just felt like our guys came out a little flat, which is crazy. It's hard to imagine that after the way we played in the national championship game," he said. "I thought we were ready; business-like mentality. It seemed like those guys were more excited to play than we were, which is critical in college football. Every Saturday you've got to be excited to play.
"It's on me. That's my fault. I've got to do better."
The loss was TCU's third in its last four outings, dating back to the 2022 Big 12 Championship on the heels of an undefeated regular season.
Dykes pointed to critical mistakes in scoring opportunities -- interceptions thrown at the Buffalo 14- and 4-yard lines, plus a missed 42-yard field goal -- as the difference in the game. If he had to do it over again, Dykes said he'd have like to run the ball on the 3rd-and-1 that instead ended with Travis Hunter's spectacular interception. The Frogs ran the ball at will: 37 carries for 262 yards (7.1 per) and four touchdowns.
Speaking of Hunter and the TCU running game, that led to another pointed comment from Dykes. When asked why starting running back Emani Bailey (14 carries for a game-high 164 yards) did not run the ball after the first play of the fourth quarter, Dykes said he started experiencing cramps.
"Somehow Travis Hunter managed to play every snap and we had guys that couldn't. We take a lot of pride in our strength and conditioning program and nutrition," he said. "It didn't show up today for us."
The heat index was a comparatively mild 95 degrees at kickoff. TCU had the advantage of training in the Fort Worth heat, while Colorado could not.
None of this is meant to excuse a Frog defense that surrendered 565 yards and 45 points, of course. Shedeur Sanders went 38-of-47 for 510 yards and four touchdowns, while four separate Buffaloes went over 100 receiving yards. Scheme, tackling and effort were all targets of Dykes's disappointment.
"We had high expectations coming into the season on defense We did," he said. "Our back seven were returning, for the most part. Felt like we didn't play particularly well at corner today; gave up some big plays, didn't make any plays on 50/50 balls."
So by Dykes's own estimation was out-schemed, out-tackled, out-played, out-conditioned, out-fed, and out-spirited by Colorado. Asked if there were any positives to take from the game, he said, "If you're going to get exposed, you want it to be early."