Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' Buffaloes have almost nothing left to play for as Utah looms
Colorado needs a win to stop its slide, but it is facing one of the conference’s strongest teams
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' team is running out of time to salvage its season. ESPN’s latest Football Power Index has Colorado at 0% to win the Big 12, reach the College Football Playoff or capture a national championship.
Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes have received the kind of news that confirms what their recent performances have been suggesting: the road to a meaningful postseason has become almost impossible.
For a program hoping to establish itself as a legitimate contender under Sanders, the projection is another sobering reality check, and a harsh one... which could be an understatement when we talk about one of the most popular head coaches in college football.
It should not come as a surprise
Colorado has lost to Baylor and, most recently, a top-10 Texas Tech team after an earlier defeat against Northwestern. Those results have left the Buffaloes struggling to keep pace with the conference’s leading programs.
Their latest FPI rating tells the story. Colorado sits at -0.5, up slightly from -0.6 last week, but remains at the bottom of the Big 12 rankings . More concerning is the projected record. FPI has Colorado finishing 4.1-7.9, the worst projection in the conference. That would leave the Buffaloes two wins short of bowl eligibility, while their chance of reaching six victories has fallen to just 13.9%.
More concerning is the projected record. FPI has Colorado finishing 4.1-7.9, the worst projection in the conference. That would leave the Buffaloes two wins short of bowl eligibility, while their chance of reaching six victories has fallen to just 13.9%. The numbers leave little room for interpretation: Colorado needs a dramatic turnaround.
That turnaround will not be easy to start. Colorado’s next opponent is Utah, which is tied with Texas Tech as the No. 11 team nationally in FP I and ranks as the highest-rated team in the Big 12.
The Utes are coming to Boulder at exactly the wrong time for Sanders. Colorado needs a win to stop its slide, but it is facing one of the conference’s strongest teams.
A victory would not suddenly restore the Buffaloes’ championship hopes. It would, however, give Sanders something the program desperately needs: evidence that this season can still be salvaged.
Coach Prime needs answers
The latest FPI projection is ultimately a reflection of what has happened on the field. Colorado has not been consistent enough against quality competition, and its margin for error is shrinking by the week.
The task now is much simpler than it was at the beginning of the season for "Coach Prime" and the Buffaloes. The championship conversation is over. Colorado need to start winning, and that mission begins with Utah.
A loss would push Colorado closer to the 4- or 5-win territory projected by FPI and make bowl eligibility even more difficult. A win would not fix everything, but it could provide the momentum needed to change the direction of the season. The numbers have delivered a brutal verdict on Colorado . Now Coach Prime has to find a way to prove them wrong.
