CU football

Ralphie VII, the new live mascot for the Colorado Buffaloes, has made her debut, thrilling fans at Folsom Field. The year-old bison, weighing 700 pounds, ran across the field last weekend, marking the return of one of college football's beloved live animal mascots.

Leave it to Deion Sanders to come up with an idea for the College Football Playoff that nobody has really mentioned yet: Pay the players for making the tournament, and pay them more when their teams win.

Deion Sanders is adjusting to coaching Colorado without his sons, Shedeur and Shilo. Colorado is preparing for a new season with either Kaidon Salter or Julian Lewis stepping in for Shedeur as quarterback. Sanders believes this team is better than last year's squad, which went 9-4 and earned an invitation to the Alamo Bowl.

Deion Sanders appreciates questions about his health after a recent scare. The Colorado coach says he feels healthy and vibrant. Sanders has returned to the team after treatment for bladder cancer.

The "Prime Effect" has come at a cost to University of Colorado football fans, according to a survey of gameday costs announced Wednesday by an oddsmaker. It now costs more than $300 for two people to attend a game — the most expensive of 100 NCAA gamedays, including tickets, beers, sodas, hot dogs and parking for two fans heading to Folsom Field to cheer on the Buffs.

The bill would allow schools to pay players from any sport, though football is the most lucrative, for their name, image and likeness rights, otherwise known as NIL.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says Mike McCarthy will not return as the team's coach. Jones said Monday that the organization and McCarthy mutually agreed to part ways. A person with knowledge of the conversation says Jones has spoken about the job with University of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, who played on the Cowboys' last Super Bowl-winning team.

Bill McCartney, who coached Colorado to its only football national championship in 1990, has died. He was 84. McCartney died "after a courageous journey with dementia," according to a family statement. His family announced in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's.

With two dynamic stars playing their final college game, the 20th-ranked Buffaloes were blown out 36-14 by No. 17 BYU in the Alamo Bowl. Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner and two-way sensation, caught four passes for a game-high 106 yards and a touchdown. Shedeur Sanders, the son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, was 16-of-23 passing for 208 yards with two TDs and two interceptions.

The Buffaloes will take on Brigham Young University on Saturday night in San Antonio.