Colorado and Arizona State might be meeting earlier than expected next season.

First-year CU head coach Deion Sanders hinted during an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast before Monday’s national championship game that a season-opener against Arizona State “may happen.” As things stand, CU is believed to face TCU to begin the Sanders era.

But ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said shortly after the title game wrapped up that CU will open the 2023 campaign in Week 0 against Arizona State. With the two sides facing off in Boulder during the 2022 season, that would put the game in Tempe on Saturday, August 26.

The Pac-12 has not released the 2023 conference schedule yet, and nothing official has come from either ASU or Colorado as of publication. According to John Canzano, who spoke with CU athletic director Rick George on a recent podcast, the schedule could come out in the next week or two.

Arizona State hosting Colorado in Week 0 would make sense for the conference from a marketing standpoint. It would give the Pac-12 a showcase game on a week with limited action to highlight Sanders’ first game as a Power Five head coach.

Making it a reality would take some fine-tuning, though.

Arizona State is scheduled to play Southern Utah on Thursday, Aug. 31. It’ll host Oklahoma State the following Saturday, and then Fresno State on Sept. 16. Would the Sun Devils move the game against Southern Utah to later in the week?

Colorado is scheduled to play at TCU on Sept. 2. The home opener for the Buffs is against Nebraska the following weekend.