At the beginning of the season, the Colorado Buffaloes and their Head Coach Deion Sanders started the season with three straight wins. Following their double overtime victory over rival Colorado State, the Buffaloes were ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press Poll.
Since then, the season has taken a sharp turn. The Buffaloes have lost their last 2 games both to conference opponents which will make for a tough season going forward. While many did not expect Colorado to finish high in the Pac-12, their 3-0 start had some people believing they were destined for more.
Their first loss came at the hand of the Oregon Ducks in a 42-6 thrashing in which they were dominated from start to finish. The Ducks had been argued by some as the best team in what has become a competitive Pac-12 conference. The gap in talent was evident as the buffaloes were not able to score until their final drive of the game. The game was won by Oregon in the trenches and Colorado’s front seven on defense was displayed as a true weakness. As a whole, the Colorado defense was exposed and the absence of Travis Hunter left their secondary in shambles as they had no real answer for Oregon’s fast wide receivers.
Oregon wide receiver Troy Franklin led the way with eight catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns. This was a career game for Franklin which was, in large part, due to the absence of Hunter for Colorado.
Their second loss was to USC and the reigning Heisman quarterback Caleb Williams. The game began with USC building a 17-0 lead, leaving Colorado down and out. At halftime, the score was 34-14 and it looked like a repeat of the prior week. However, Colorado and Coach Prime were prepared to attempt a comeback.
With the Buffaloes down 48-17, they remained determined to make a push for victory as they were able to score 24 unanswered points in order to make it a game. Unfortunately for Colorado fans, the comeback was thwarted as the game ended in a 48-41 loss.
After the loss, Deion Sanders was adamant about his disdain for the criticism his son Shedeur and the program had been receiving due to his recent actions as well as their back to back losses. In response to the criticism, Sanders said “If you can’t see what’s coming with CU football, you’ve lost your mind.”
Sanders and the team appear confident that they can complete the turnaround of the Colorado football program in the coming years. However, these last few weeks have been a disheartening roadblock and much needed reality check for the Buffaloes. Only time will tell if Sanders and the Buffaloes will be able to overcome this roadblock.