Head Coach: Just in case you aren’t aware of this, Colorado is coached by a guy named Deion Sanders, he has a 4-8 record with the program. He carved a very different path than most coaching at Jackson State with great success then jumping straight to Colorado, I hear he had a solid NFL career too.
Program Outlook: I’m quite close to the program personally and have been going to games since 2019. I’ve always been in love with the potential this program has, great facilities, awesome stadium and backdrop in such a great area to live, but Colorado struggled with relevance. In the Pac-12 they went almost unnoticed and it was a struggle to get recruits to come out there to visit. It’s hard to tell at this point where the Deion Sanders era will go, but at a minimum Colorado is relevant again, and has shown they can interest any recruit. That in itself is a huge victory.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: Colorado’s approach to roster building is extremely unique, they’ve built most positions via the transfer portal with only a few high school recruits sprinkled in. The offense will be a lot of fun to watch. Shedeur Sanders is a polarizing personality but he is a great QB who is mobile and can make all the throws, he does need to work on trusting his receivers more and getting the ball out quicker. You probably know a lot of the names already but Colorado is extremely loaded at receiver it is their best and deepest position of the roster. Running back was a huge question mark because Dylan Edwards wasn’t a between the tackles runner, Alton McCaskill didn’t work out as expected and they transferred out anyway. They ended up filling that with Dallan Haydan from Ohio State, and a few others. The offensive line was a major weakness and they attacked the position hard this offseason early practices indicate it’s much improved. To bridge the gap between offense and defense we cannot forget about two way star Travis Hunter who is a great playmaker at receiver and a good corner well. Defensively Colorado struggled last year but they’ve added some really exciting defensive lineman to boost that side of the ball along with a few other intriguing players on all levels of the defense. How will all of it come together? It’s an interesting question to find out.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: This schedule is no joke. Colorado plays two classic rivalry games against Nebraska and Colorado State, both of whom are expected to be much improved this year. To wrap up the non-conference slate is a FCS foe, but not just any FCS foe. North Dakota State, arguably the most dominant program in FCS of the last 2 decades, prior to a tight loss to Arizona in 2022, North Dakota State was riding a 6 game win streak against FBS opponents, so yes this is a scary game! It doesn’t get any easier in conference play either. Colorado plays 7 of the top 8 favorites to win the conference!
Vegas Projection: Colorado’s win total is set at 5.5 wins with the odds geared toward the over. Vegas seems to expect the Buffs to make a bowl, but not much more.
2024 Best Case: The portal pieces on the offensive line and defense get on the same page quickly allowing the Buffs to play extremely good. They handle their non-conference slate and beat Baylor to move to 4-0 and the hype machine is back for their trip to UCF. Despite the tough environment the Buffs win that to move to 5-0. Despite a tough schedule Colorado loses only one game the whole way and wins a showdown the last week of the season against Oklahoma State to make the Big 12 championship. The Buffs win the Big 12 championship and they’re off to the college football playoffs. They get a first round bye as a conference champion and then win their first playoff game to move to the semis. The run ends there against Georgia but it’s clear Deion Sanders Buffaloes have arrived.
2024 Worst Case: The offensive line may look better size wise but getting 5 strangers together and expecting it to work year 1 just doesn’t work. Faced with a tough opening game Colorado battles but falters in the 4th to North Dakota State as everyone who hates them rejoices. It only gets better for the haters when Colorado loses to Nebraska and Colorado State for an 0-3 start. They collapse to a disaster 2-10 season and everyone questions whether Deion’s roster building strategy will ever work. Meanwhile Nebraska and Colorado State both win 10 games laughing at Colorado the whole way. Deion decides it’s never going to work here and takes the Florida job, taking most of the talented players with, suddenly Colorado is back where they started after it all.
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