Three games into the 2025 college football season, Colorado is largely underwhelming ahead of a Week 4 home matchup with Wyoming. Deion Sanders has his team preparing for the contest with a 1-2 record, the worst start of his tenure. Ahead of the Colorado-Wyoming Week 4 college football matchup, we will be making our predictions.
After they went 9-4 in 2024 and flirted with Big 12 title contention, nobody expected the Buffaloes to maintain that success in 2025. Nearly every key player left for the NFL, namely Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Regardless, the early results of Deion Sanders' third season are still more discouraging than expected.
Colorado opened the season with a Friday night game against Georgia Tech, suffering a 27-20 loss to the Yellow Jackets. With the Jackets emerging as a top-25 team after beating Clemson, that one-score loss has certainly aged well.
However, it is less about the result and mainly about the journey. Colorado had the ball in the final minute and needed a touchdown to tie the game, but let the clock run out without using either of its final two timeouts. Needless to say, fans bashed Sanders for his late-game coaching in that defeat.
The Buffaloes have since gone 1-1, beating Delaware at home but getting blown out by Houston on the road. Through three games, the team's quarterback situation is making headlines, but defense is the clear issue. Colorado is allowing 430 yards per game, the most in the Big 12.
Wyoming, meanwhile, has gone 2-1 to start the year, beating Akron and Northern Iowa before losing to No. 20 Utah in Week 3. For a team projected to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West, the Cowboys' early results have been relatively encouraging.
The odds suggest that Colorado will improve to 2-2 without much issue, but the Buffaloes are in a precarious situation with conference play on the horizon. Ahead of the pivotal Week 4 matchup, here are our Colorado-Wyoming college football predictions.
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Deion Sanders turns to Julian Lewis at quarterback
Deion Sanders started the year with Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter under center, but quickly reopened the quarterback battle in Week 2. He used all three of Salter, Ryan Staub and Julian Lewis against Delaware, before deciding on Staub as his Week 3 starter.
Consistency is certainly of the essence, but Sanders might find it in his best interest to make another change. Staub threw for 204 yards against Houston, the most of any Buffaloes quarterback on the year, but averaged just 5.8 yards per attempt. Lewis has been the least effective of the three thus far, but he might be the saving grace to Colorado's 2025 college football season.
A consensus five-star recruit, Lewis has the highest ceiling of the three. He is also the only player of the trio who has yet to receive an extended opportunity. Sanders said he wanted to give all three players a chance against Delaware, but Lewis only played three drives, including one in victory formation at the end of the game.
With games against BYU, TCU and Iowa State looming, Week 4 is the final developmental opportunity that Colorado has. Sanders used his last one as a chance to evaluate all three quarterbacks, but gave Staub the longest leash after he proved to be the most effective.
Expect all three quarterbacks to see the field again, with Lewis popping as the most talented of the group. Although he lacks experience, Lewis appears to be the only player in Sanders' quarterback room who can give Colorado a chance in Big 12 play.
Colorado defense records four takeaways
Deion Sanders went off on Colorado's defense after its loss to Houston, and for a good reason. The Buffaloes practically allowed Conner Weigman and the Cougars to get whatever they wanted as they racked up 431 total yards.
The Houston game was the worst of it, but Colorado has struggled to stop anybody all year. Its defense allowed 463 yards against Georgia Tech in Week 1 — including a whopping 320 rushing yards — and even ceded 396 yards to Delaware in Week 2.
Colorado certainly lost a ton of production in the offseason, but still returned a veteran unit in 2025. This is simply not the defensive culture Sanders built in Boulder, and it is visibly frustrating him early in the year.
However, as much as they have struggled, the Buffaloes are still managing to force turnovers. Colorado has five takeaways thus far, all in its first two games. Likewise, Wyoming has already committed four turnovers, including two in Week 3 against Utah.
Given how publicly Sanders bashed this unit in Week 3, expect it to come out swinging in Week 4. Colorado led the Big 12 with 39 sacks in 2024 and needs to get back on that pressure against a vulnerable Wyoming team. The Cowboys boast a veteran offensive line, led by All-Mountain West center Jack Walsh, but they allowed a Utah team that only recorded 24 sacks in 2024 to generate consistent pressure.
Colorado beats Wyoming by 30
Colorado is struggling to defend everywhere, but primarily against the pass. The Buffaloes are allowing 204.3 rushing yards per game, the second-most in the Big 12, but only one team, Georgia Tech, has averaged more than 3.9 yards per carry against them.
Conversely, Wyoming is struggling to beat teams through the air. After leaning heavily on its ground game in Weeks 1 and 2, the Cowboys could only muster 108 passing yards in Week 3, despite trailing all game.
Despite facing two inferior opponents, Wyoming is still only averaging 15.7 points per game. That mark is the third-fewest in the Mountain West, only ahead of Nevada and San Jose State, whose numbers are skewed by facing top-10-ranked teams.
Colorado's offense has not been great, but it might deserve more leniency in hindsight. The Buffaloes have reached 20 points in all three games and nearly scored as many points against Georgia Tech as Clemson did. The Tigers are another team currently underwhelming, but were a preseason top-10 offense in the country.
The pressure is all on Deion Sanders and Colorado to perform, but one good game is all it takes to wipe that away. The Buffaloes have not lost consecutive games in the same season since 2023, responding with an emphatic double-digit victory following each of their three regular-season losses in 2024. Expect them to finally put together a big game in Week 4 against Wyoming.
