The Colorado football team finished in last place in the Pac-12 last season. They won just one conference game and four games total on the year. Expectations for them this season were pretty low, but here we are in mid-November and the Buffaloes are 7-2 and ranked #17 in the country. Their Big 12 title and College Football Playoff hopes are very much alive. Joel Klatt thinks that Deion Sanders has a good shot to win coach of the year because of the job that he has done with this team this year.
“So now they control their own destiny in the Big 12, which means they control their own destiny for the College Football Playoff, which is remarkable guys,” Joel Klatt during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “I mean I'm sorry, like I don't care what you think about Deion [Sanders], I don't care what you think about their style or what they do on social media, the coaching job that Deion Sanders has done at Colorado is remarkable and he should be on a very short list this year for national coach of the year, period.”
This Colorado football team has improved a lot over the course of the season, and like Klatt pointed out, they now control their own destiny in the Big 12. When they are playing their best, Klatt believes that they are better than anyone else in their conference. However, the offensive line is a concern.
“They are at their best, the best team in the big 12 right now,” Klatt said. “They've got the best core of wide receivers in the big 12. The defense has played incredibly well, and they are disruptive. I would call them a top two or three defense in the big 12 right now, which is, by the way, an insane growth from what we saw a year ago, an insane growth, like, the way that they got after the quarterback against Texas Tech last week was impressive. And offensively, you know what they're going to be able to do with their speed, but their offensive line is still – it is the biggest issue that they have, aside from game management and the idea that they don't manage the clock very well, and they don't manage fourth quarter situations very well, but their offensive line is still what they have to play around on the offensive side.”
The offensive line issues might not hurt Colorado in Big 12 play, but if they do make it to the College Football Playoff, they might run into some problems.
“No, they can't hold up at the line of scrimmage,” Klatt said. “Their defense has vastly improved at the line of scrimmage, and they can win up front on the defensive side, but their offensive line would not hold up against Oregon. They would not hold up against Ohio State. They would not hold up against Georgia, not hold up against Texas, all due respect. I mean, I'm a Buff. This is just, like, you asked me a question. That's my honest, honest take.”
Right now, all Colorado is thinking about it winning the Big 12. So far, the offensive line hasn't been great, but it isn't costing the Buffaloes games in conference play.
“This is how good Shedeur [Sanders] is,” Klatt continued. “Colorado has given up, I believe it's 29 sacks to this point, which is a ton. That's 120th in the country. Okay, so like, near the bottom, I think there's 133 right now. And so they're near the bottom, and yet he's still this good, yet the offense is still this good. I'll go back to what we talked about before the season. Colin, I said that I think Colorado could win eight or nine games. And you were like, ‘wow, why?' And I this is what I said verbatim. I said they gave up 52 sacks last year. They don't even have to be great or good at protecting the quarterback. If they just get better and they give up somewhere in the 30s in sacks, they're going to win eight or nine games. That's exactly what's happening right now. So are they great on the offensive line? No, but they play well enough, they run the ball enough in order to allow Shedeur Sanders and that insanely talented group of wide receivers to affect and impact the game in the right way.”
The Colorado football team is hoping to improve to 8-2 this weekend, and Joel Klatt will be there on the call as the Buffaloes host Utah. The two teams will kick off at 10 AM MT from Folsom Field in Boulder, and the game will be airing on Fox. Colorado is currently favored by 11.5 points.
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