A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece about how college football might be vulnerable to a usurper, a new power that takes advantage of the new developments of the day -- namely, allowing athletes to transfer more freely and make money off of their name, image and likeness (NIL) -- to rise to or near the top of the sport. It seemed the sport might be capable of producing a new Miami or Florida State, programs that rose to usurper prominence in a changing television environment in the 1980s.
One of the main characters in that piece was Jackson State coach Deion Sanders. As a player he was a major factor in FSU's rise, and as a coach he had recently convinced Travis Hunter, the No. 2 prospect in the country, to attend JSU. Sanders was attracting far more talent to Jackson than one would have thought conceivable. It was fun to envision what might happen if he continued to build a powerhouse at Jackson State, and it was intriguing to think about what he might be capable of at a power-conference school.
About 20 months after he left JSU for Colorado, Sanders remains a disruptor. He has eschewed any norm he can find. He openly cleansed the roster he inherited in Boulder to bring in more than 90 transfers in two recruiting cycles. His players displayed their social media handles on the back of their jerseys for a 2023 scrimmage. He delights in holding grudges against local and national media who don't fawn appropriately. And when his Buffaloes began the 2023 season a surprising 3-0, he used his fame to attract mega celebrities to Boulder.
The first month of the 2023 season was The Colorado Show. The Buffaloes rose into the AP top 20 for the first time in half a decade following a 3-0 start. People couldn't decide whether to name quarterback Shedeur Sanders or Hunter, the receiver/cornerback, the Heisman favorite. TV ratings for CU games were skyrocketing: The Buffaloes' win over Colorado State drew more viewers than the high-stakes Oregon-Washington Pac-12 championship game would at the end of the year. Their Week 4 visit to Oregon would end up the third-most highly rated game of the regular season.
The final score of that game, by the way: Oregon 42, Colorado 6.
From 3-0, the Buffaloes would fall to 4-8, losing to both good and shaky teams alike. They blew a huge lead and handed Stanford its only Pac-12 win of the season. With the wheels falling off late, they lost by 42 points at Washington State. Sanders demoted respected offensive coordinator Sean Lewis late in the season (Lewis took the San Diego State head-coaching job soon after), then moved on from defensive coordinator Charles Kelly in the offseason. Then he stripped his roster down to the studs and loaded up on transfers all over again.
Aside from shockingly good player and team ratings in EA Sports' CFB 25 video game, it appears most of the Colorado hype has subsided. The Buffaloes received just one vote in the preseason AP poll. They were picked 11th out of 16 teams in the freshly expanded Big 12. Their win total at ESPN BET is 5.5, and the under has far better odds. For now, the hype train is out of steam.
What will it take to get it going again? How does this year's team compare with last year's and is it better positioned for a full season of success? Can a pair of new coordinators get the most out of the Buffaloes' collection of talent, particularly Shedeur Sanders? And how does CU fit in the new-look Big 12?
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How this roster compares to the 4-8 team from 2023
How good was Shedeur Sanders last season?
Does Colorado have a chance in the Big 12?
