**Editor’s Note: Joseph Goodman’s popular college football picks feature, “Joe vs. the Pro and the Hero,” is adding readers to the action. Pick your Week 2 games here, and sign up for Joe’s newsletter to see how your picks compare to the experts (and Joe) as well as other readers.

________________________

This is an opinion column.

A couple more unpalatable performances like Monday’s boiled chicken of a football game against Duke and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney will be on the hot seat.

If he’s not already.

It doesn’t take long in a business where things like school enrollment and national TV exposure are tied to wins and losses. College football is changing quickly, and Swinney is refusing to keep up based on his ego and distaste for different. That’s a less than ideal corporate philosophy for a Pelham, Alabama, native who might one day soon be a candidate to replace Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa.

It’s no secret what has made Saban successful for so long. He recruits well and he has always, always, always adapted to the times. Saban uses every change in college football to his advantage. Swinney can’t even change his khaki pants. Remember when everyone said Swinney was the obvious successor to Saban at Alabama? Those feel like ancient days now.

RELATED: What Deion Sanders said about Colorado making Top 25

GOODMAN: Texas takes aim at history, future and Alabama

GOODMAN: Should Auburn have hired Deion Sanders?

GOODMAN: A tribute to Jimmy Buffett, legendary sports fan

CASAGRANDE: What did we learn from Alabama, Auburn openers? Trick question.

Traditionalists are going extinct in this game faster than the dinosaurs and Swinney is looking more and more like a fossil every day. I’ll be the first to say it. Based on what we’re seeing, it would be a massive, colossal failure for Alabama to even consider Swinney as an option to replace Saban.

I would love to see Saban coach Alabama forever. That’s not reality, though, and I’m going to enjoy this season like it might be Saban’s last. Here’s a thought. If Saban retired after this season, then who would Alabama be more inclined to hire, Swinney or new Colorado coach Deion Sanders?

Alabama’s powerbrokers can only choose between those two names. Who’s it going to be? One represents the future of college football and one represents the past. One is more like Nick Saban, and it’s not the guy who refuses to use the transfer portal and just watched his team score seven points against Duke.

Chances are pretty good that neither Swinney nor Sanders replaces Saban, but that’s not really the point here. Consider them avatars of the modern game. Sanders represents the evolution of college football. Swinney represents stagnation.

I’ll take Coach Prime over Swinney at Alabama and not think twice about the decision. A lot of fans feel the same way, too.

Are there two more polar opposite coaches in college football this season than Coach Prime at Colorado and Swinney at Clemson? College football players have more power than ever. Sanders celebrates that change in the game and Swinney loathes it.

The Swinneys of the world are losing their grips on this game and the players are better for it. The old guard, of course, is trying to fight back against a current system that allows players to move freely from one school to the next for playing time and cash. They will not win that fight. While the schools that employ crusty coaches are pushing boulders uphill, a town in Colorado named Boulder is looking like the new epicenter of a sport.

The college football transformation being put into motion by Sanders at Colorado is nothing short of revolutionary. The Buffaloes went 1-11 in 2022, opening the season with a 38-13 loss at home to TCU. Colorado’s only win was against Cal. It was bleak. With one move, Colorado is now the biggest story in college football entering Week 2 of the season.

Critics were certain that Sanders would fail miserably at Colorado. Goes to show what some of these college football “experts” actually know about the game. Sanders used the transfer portal to turn Colorado into an instant title contender in the Pac-12. The Buffs opened the season last Saturday with a 45-42 victory against TCU, which went 13-2 in 2022 and played for a national championship.

In a pregame ceremony, the Horned Frogs celebrated its run to the College Football Playoff with the unveiling of a new stadium banner. A few hours later, TCU was 0-1 to begin the 2023 season and wondering, along with everyone else, what it had just witnessed. Colorado piled up 565 yards of total offense and featured a pair of players who instantly became serious candidates for the Heisman Trophy.

One is Sanders’ son. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders passed for 510 yards and four touchdowns. The other player is Travis Hunter, who plays cornerback and receiver. Both Sanders and Hunter played at Jackson State for Coach Prime before transferring to Colorado. Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are two of over 50 new transfers at Colorado, including 13 from the SEC. Now compare that to Clemson’s Swinney, who has lost his edge in recruiting and refuses to use the transfer portal.

Who would players rather play for in this new world of college football, Sanders or Swinney? It’s an obvious answer.

Swinney is on record saying that he would walk away from coaching if college players were allowed to make money. While Dabo is quiet-quitting at Clemson, the noise being made by Sanders at Colorado is deafening.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama”, a book about togetherness, hope and rum. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.