The biggest news in Boulder was the hiring of Deion Sanders to be the new head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. Suddenly everyone forgot that the team managed to win just one game in 2022 and instead focused on the soundbites Coach Prime provides. Sanders knew exactly what he inherited and immediately went to work telling players from last season’s squad that they won’t be around once the Buffs start winning. For six straight seasons the Buffs failed to win more than five games and they’ve finished below .500 in each of their last five full seasons. Coach Prime has his work cut out for him but at least the school will be getting attention nobody cared to give the program over the last few years.
College Football Season Wins Odds
Regular Season Wins for the Colorado Buffaloes
Over 3.5 ( +123 )
Under 3.5 ( -140 )
Sanders didn’t mess around once handed the reins of the program. He hit the portal hard overhauling a roster that would have had a hard time beating a lower level team. The 2022 Buffaloes ranked 131st – dead last in the FBS – in points allowed, and were 127th nationally in scoring. There really is nowhere to go but up and Sanders will get them there letting everyone know about what he accomplished.
Roster
Where to begin with this section? Basically the entire roster was overhauled with only a few holdovers from the previous regime. You can’t really blame Sanders and his staff for cleaning house since the team was historically bad in 2022. The Buffs averaged 281.3 yards, better than only four clubs in the entire FBS, and scored just 15.4 points per game. You can attribute those horrible numbers to atrocious quarterback play. The six players that attempted at least one pass last season combined to complete 49.7 percent of their throws.
The QB makes an offense and a good QB makes the offense better. There’s no question that Shedeur Sanders, yes Prime’s kid, will make the Buffs better. He was one of the top signal-callers in the FCS the past two seasons completing over 68 percent of his passes for 6,963 yards with 70 TDs and only 14 interceptions helping Jackson State go 21-3 in that span. Sanders was the SWAC Freshman of the Year in 2021 and the league’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2022. The father/son combo won’t miss a beat using the high tempo offense that produced video game numbers the last two years.
The portal provided starters at receiver in the likes of Xavier Weaver and Jimmy Horn Jr. and in the backfield with Alton McCaskill joining four-star recruit Dylan Edwards. Several new faces were added along the offensive line with all of them starters at lower level programs. What makes the Buffs so intriguing is that a number of transfers made the leap from the FCS and will be determined to prove they can compete in a Power 5 conference.
The Buffs were awful on offense last year and they were even worse defensively. Charles Kelly takes over as the new coordinator with plenty of success in the past. He has pieces to work with in top cornerback recruits Travis Hunter, who played for Coach Prime at JSU, and Cormani McClain. We could see as many as eight transfers line up on the starting defense for the season opener.
There is nowhere for the defense to go but up after finishing dead last in points allowed. The Buffs allowed more than 50 points in each of their last three games and surrendered more than 40 points in 10 of their 12 games.
Schedule
Non-conference matchups with TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State lead into Pac-12 play where the Buffs open at Oregon and at home against favorite USC. And the Buffs get five road games in the odd-numbered league slate that could be pivotal in their quest to cash the OVER. There are potential wins against Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona.
Prediction
No team hit the portal as hard as Colorado and the Buffs landed several quality players. Coach Prime not only shines a spotlight on the program but he also makes Boulder a landing spot for top recruits. How well the newcomers mesh will go a long way toward determining if the Buffs cash the OVER on their projected win total. Not only will the Buffs be a better team they’ll also be fun to watch and four wins isn’t much to ask for.
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