Stampeding into a New Era.

The 2023 Colorado Buffaloes have made quite the stir in College football with the hire of their new head coach, Deion Sanders. They are on the road to bringing a new culture and a certain swagger to Boulder while trying to bring back a winning tradition, something the Buffaloes haven't seen in a long time. Deion definitely brings swagger and so far (according to the transfer portal) has begun to change the culture at Colorado. What's yet to be seen is, whether he can continue winning as he had back at Jackson State at Colorado. I'm a big fan of Coach Prime and hope he can build Colorado into a winning program. However, I'm not sure it will come as quickly as fans would like. According to 247 Sports, Coach Prime solidified a “Top 30 class” finishing on the edge at 29th in the ‘23 recruiting rankings. As it currently stands, the Buffaloes are sitting at 35th in the ‘24 rankings and are set to surely climb the closer we get to early commitment in December, as well as commitment day in February.

With the multitude of transfers Colorado has coming in, he is looking to hit the ground running in 2023. A big reason for this is thanks to transfer quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Sanders threw for 3,742 yards and 40 touchdowns in 2022 to only 6 interceptions. Sanders played lights out at Jackson State and finished with 6,963 passing yards after the 2022 football season before transferring to Colorado. I can only imagine that Sanders will be the starter for the Buffaloes as they begin their new era at Colorado and finish out his remaining years of eligibility. If Sanders can replicate the success he had at JSU at Colorado then the Buffaloes will have a good shot to compete with teams in the PAC. For comparison, J.T. Shrout, the QB who led the Buffaloes in passing for 2022 only had 1,220 yards with 7 TDs and 8 interceptions. Sanders should come and make a HUGE impact offensively while Coach Prime puts emphasis on the defensive side of the ball.

With all of this in mind, Colorado’s schedule is not going to be kind to Coach Prime. They play TCU, Oregon, UCLA, and Utah all on the road. Those games will be challenging and to have them on the road makes it even worse for Colorado. However, the Buffaloes have the “Luxury” of playing Nebraska, who could be a dangerous team under first-year coach Matt Rhule, USC, and Oregon State in Boulder. These 7 games will be the most challenging on their schedule, and I would bet they will be able to compete in just about all of these. And maybe even upset a couple of them along the way. TCU is expected to be down from last year and Colorado kept it close in a losing effort in 2022. The Horned Frogs lost a lot and I believe Colorado will be able to take advantage of that in 2023. Nebraska is in the same boat as the Buffaloes, they are definitely looking to explode in 2023 with new head coaches. This will be a fun game between old Big 12 North foes. With the rest of that conference schedule, I think Colorado will have a tough time as those other schools are all looking to take a step forward and compete on a national level. My (way too early) projection for CU is to finish 2023 with a 7-5 overall record and a 5-4 conference record. A bowl trip in Prime’s first year would be perfect for Colorado, it would set the ground to build on, and further sell to recruits to come play in Boulder.

I look forward to seeing what Coach Sanders has in store for the Colorado faithful in 2023. I think Coach Prime was an excellent hire and will make strides as a head coach at the Power 5 level. It will take him time, but with USC and UCLA heading to the B10, the door has opened for Prime and the company to compete in an ever-changing college landscape.