No one knew exactly what to expect from Deion Sanders when he took over the Colorado football program this season. The question marks started with the program itself, which only won one game last season, and ended with Sanders' total overhaul of the roster that only had 10 scholarship players remaining from last year's team.
Fast forward three weeks into the 2023 season, and Sanders' Buffaloes football team is 3-0 and the talk of not just the college football world but the sports world in general. It took him just two games to best last year's Buffaloes team record. And while most pundits would say that wasn't too difficult to do, one would only have to take a deep dive into the Colorado football program's recent history to see that the circumstances tell a different story.
But since those first three weeks back at the beginning of the season, the bloom is off the rose now, so to speak, and Sanders' Colorado football team finds themselves not the darlings they once were but instead reeling for victories, while simultaneously losing future commits along the way. That 3-0 quickly turned 3-2 after a blowout loss to Oregon and then another loss to USC, with the Buffaloes making it close in the end. Colorado's only other win was against Arizona State, where they eked out a 27-24 victory.
Overall, Colorado has lost six out of their last seven games and now sits at 4-6 on the season with two games remaining, albeit both on the road against Pac-12 competition in Washington State and the currently No. 18 ranked Utah.
They've seemingly found every possible way to lose, too. Stanford was perhaps the crux of the whole season; however, as the Buffaloes walked into halftime with a 29-point lead, yet lost 46-43 in two overtimes. Then just last week, a last-second Arizona field goal bested the Buffaloes, 34-31. That leaves now only a shimmer of hope for Colorado to make it to a bowl game, needing to win both of their remaining games.
How can Colorado football beat Washington State?
Colorado football first has to get through Washington State football if they have any hope of making a bowl, which will put them with five wins. To beat the Cougars, they're going to need Shedeur Sanders to be at his best that day.
Washington State is averaging giving up almost 31 points per game this season, which ranks 101st in the country, per Team Rankings. Granted, that's above Colorado's nearly 34 points per game for 116th, so look for this to be another shootout game for the Buffaloes football team. But Sanders will need to be at his best and better yet, will need to rely on his run game where the Cougars are giving up 162 yards per game. Besides that, with the way both of these teams can score and allow opposing teams to score, the Buffaloes need to hope they're holding onto the ball at the end.
How can Colorado football beat Utah?
If they can make it past that — and that's a big if — it's onto a very tough Utah football team in one of the toughest places to play in the country. Until Oregon a couple of weeks ago, the Utes hadn't lost at home in 18 games, and not counting the pandemic season, had lost since Sept. 16, 2018. So to say this will be a massive challenge for Colorado is an understatement.
Again, this really goes back to their star quarterback, Shedeur Sanders. But more importantly, it goes to his offensive line, who have allowed him to get sacked 48 times this season, the most in the country. Utah's defense has 30 sacks on the year, with defensive end Jonah Elliss having 12 on the year, which is second-best in the country. Colorado stopping him and the rest of the Utah pass rush is critical.
Besides that, Colorado needs to win the turnover battle and hope to force Bryson Barnes into making critical mistakes to keep the game close. If Colorado can't do any of this to some degree, then the Buffaloes will once again not be invited to bowl season. They have two bowl appearances in the last 10 years, with their last back in 2020 in a loss against Texas in the Alamo Bowl.
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