It’s College Football season, and I’ll try not to devote too much space to it, but two stories from the opening weekend stand out and make the same point.

First was the University of Colorado’s (CU) stunning upset of Texas Christian (TCU). TCU was favored by three touchdowns. CU won the game 45 – 42. The pundits were shocked, and the praise has been unending. I live in Colorado so I’ve watched CU’s attempt to recover from a 1 – 11 season last year – not a typo – worst record in all of college football. Their hopes were pinned to the charismatic, flamboyant Deion Sanders, “Coach Prime.” Here’s how ESPN writer David Hale described how “we” (ESPN experts) blew it:

We doubted.

Who wouldn’t have doubted this Colorado team? All the hoopla and hype in the world couldn’t erase the utter catastrophe of 2022, when the Buffaloes were 1-11 with seven losses by at least 30 points.

We lectured.

Of course we lectured. Deion Sanders essentially upended every lofty, moral (and, yes, utterly ridiculous) notion of genuine amateurism by effectively cutting two-thirds of this team upon arrival. If Coach Prime had a constant megaphone to tout his new approach to roster building, we could at least use our soapbox to argue against it.

We learned.

Oh, yes, we learned so much Saturday, and we came away looking like fools after Colorado beat TCU, last year’s national runner-up, 45 – 42 in Sanders’ first game as the Buffaloes’ head coach.

The article goes on, and I recommend it in its entirety if you care about such things: College football Week 1 highlights: Top plays, games, takeaways.

The second story is LSU falling to Florida State 45 – 24, after being outscored in the second half 31 – 7. LSU was ranked #5 to Florida State’s #8. It should have been a closer game. LSU Coach Chip Kelly summed it up:

How do we handle this? Is this who we want to be, or do we look at this and say this isn’t the kind of football team we want to be. When you have those kinds of losses, they are disappointing, and in some instances, they are devastating losses, but it’s how you respond to them. They have a chance to respond to this very disappointing performance in the second half.

So the choices they will have to make will be ones that start tomorrow.

The lessons for both CU and LSU are the same. Forget the past as the Apostle Paul wrote:

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,… (Philippians 3.13, ESV)

CU has another game coming up Saturday. Last Saturday’s game is gone. Their opposition, Nebraska, has game film to look at, and both teams have exactly one week to prepare. In addition, CU has the burden of not believing their own press reports. This week’s gushing by the sports world will not win Saturday’s game.

LSU has, as their coach said, choices to make. Will they wallow in their Sunday night failure, or will they regroup?

Both teams have some forgetting to do. What about us? Do we bask in past glory? Telling stories about how God worked 10, 20, 30 years ago? Or are we still upset about some failure?

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way. (Philippians 3.13 – 15, ESV)