Colorado's rock-bottom, 1-11 showing during the 2022 campaign, which was the final season before Deion Sanders arrived in town, ironically looms large during this era of Buffaloes football. Why? It's simple. That humiliating campaign has been used as a testament to Prime Time's capabilities as a Power Four head coach. “Just look where they were three years ago.” “He increased their win total nine times over in two seasons.” “He helped bring the Heisman Trophy back to Boulder.”
These are all indisputable facts that reflect kindly on Sanders. He undeniably rejuvenated one of the sleepiest programs in the country. Many fans are still not convinced that the all-time great cornerback can sustain success in Colorado. The public is losing faith following Saturday's 29-22 road loss versus West Virginia, which drops the Buffs to a 3-7 record (1-6 in Big 12 Conference) and officially eliminates them from bowl-game consideration.
Freshman quarterback Julian Lewis performed solidly in his first career start, completing 22-of-35 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns. Perhaps better days are coming, but there are a multitude of skeptics who are making their feelings known now that Sanders is guaranteed to have a losing season for the second time in three years.
Fans share their opinions on the Deion Sanders-Colorado union
“Real ball knowers know they were eliminated when the season started,” @McdanielsDave commented on X. “But I was told they were coming,” @UtahFBFans taunted. “Can we be done with the experiment now?” @A_Sorensen89 asked.
Many believe it is time to move on from Deion Sanders. When an outspoken figure like Coach Prime piles up losses, the backlash will inevitably be fierce. However, he still has supporters who do not want to imagine what Colorado football will look like without him.
“I think he will do great things at Colorado, {it} takes {a} while to build your own program,” @clemsontek opined. “Give it some time..they have no shot without him so..let him cook,” @basbugsy said. “He gotta get some serious recruits in there tho..soon.”
Considering that former Buffaloes stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, among others, are now in the NFL, a transitional phase was probably unavoidable. A one-year regrouping period is more than reasonable. But is this merely a time of transition, or was last year's 9-4 record the outlier? It will be difficult to properly evaluate Deion Sanders' tenure in Boulder until a concrete answer to that question is provided.
If the Buffaloes fail to improve in Julian Lewis' sophomore season, then the “1-11” argument will start to lose some of its luster. A turnaround did take place, but now the burden is on Sanders to prevent stagnancy.
