Colorado's Back in Prime Time
How college football's clickbaitiest team started winning again
It didn’t seem possible, especially a year ago, that Deion Sanders and Colorado could ever sneak up on anyone. The second they hired the NFL Hall of Famer, the program went from nationally irrelevant to the hottest story in sports. A constant topic on every broad/podcast. A massive spectacle.
That became the prevailing criticism: Coach Prime was more interested in style than substance. The team floundered to the loudest 4-8 record in recent memory. There were many words spoken to/against the press, which led to yet more noisy coverage, much of it critical. Fans were frustrated with the product on the field. Their legacy would be as the "playing for clicks" team.
This year, Colorado was projected to finish 11th in their 12-team conference. After they lost in week two to Nebraska, it felt like the whole country was eager to see them get buried against their rival(?) Colorado State. The back-and-forth before this game, as well as last year’s, was its own level of absurd.
Who outside of the state cared about these two unranked programs — and their respective coaches, lest we forget — talking all kinds of unprompted shit? Who asked for this particular spectacle? The stakes were comically low.
Nevertheless, Prime persisted. The Buffaloes won that game, and then six of the next seven. Here and now, with three winnable games left on the schedule, they’re on the brink of successfully reviving Colorado football.
To borrow a framework making the rounds lately — you may have heard there was presidential election recently, the full implications of which are… let’s go with TBD — is Colorado football better off today than they were 2 years ago? Pre-Deion? When they went 1-11?
Yeah! They are. By a lot. And I know a lot of people were hoping to see them crash and burn, because yes, they’re kind of annoying. Neutral fans, this one included, tend not to go for a team who carries itself like it’s accomplished something it hasn’t. You’ve got the coach’s kids out there flashing their watches and whatever. Personally, stylistically, it’s not for me.
But my personal taste in football teams isn’t material here. What matters is that this team is pretty good. They’re 7-2, ranked #17, and in contention to make the College Football Playoff in its first year with a 12-team field.
Still, somehow, and maybe this is just my own media consumption, this has all felt quieter than I’d expected. The coverage did slow down when it started getting bleak. It was only a few weeks ago that I started hearing talking heads commenting on this again, all kind of saying: hey, check out what the Buffaloes are up to. Maybe Deion really is a good football coach.
And you know, I think I’m ready to grant that. He brought in an unorthodox hire at defensive coordinator — he’d never called plays before, so how’s that for #disruptive — who’s overseen a ton of improvement on that side of the ball. (It’s possible that also having Warren Sapp hanging around has helped. It’s good to be an NFL legend, I guess?)
QB Shedeur Sanders is still getting sacked a lot, but the protection has been better than last year’s disaster. They seem to be getting just enough from the O-line. When Sanders is upright, he can sling it. There’s a reason he could go #1 in next year’s NFL draft.
And he’s not even the best prospect on the team. That’s Travis Hunter, the two-way phenom currently Ohtani-ing his way to Heisman favorite. I’m not sure I believe he weighs the 185 lb. that Colorado says he does, but I don’t doubt that he can play on Sundays. I’d draft him.
Needless to say, it’s good to have potentially the top two picks in the draft on the same college roster. One way to overcome weaknesses elsewhere on the roster, even in football, is transcendent star power at a few key positions. They’ve got that. So hey, why not them, right? Could they make some noise?
I’d say they already have. Just making the field would be a massive success, and not to clip their ((don’t) Buffalo) wings, but that’s about as far as I see this going. They lost the one time they played a ranked team all year, and I’m not so sure that trend won’t continue if they do end up meeting BYU at the finish line in the Big 12. I certainly wouldn’t pick them to make much of a run in the Playoff if they ended up making it.
I don’t think they’re in the same universe as most of the top 10 teams, flawed as they are this year. (Apart, of course, from Oregon, who can’t be too worried about Colorado after last time. Click clack.)
Still, this was a program in absolute tatters all too recently. It seemed as if they’d made an ill-advised bet on a celebrity coach who was out of his depth, both on the Xs and Os and in the Power 4 transfer portal, who was perfectly happy to keep making headlines as the team floundered. It did not seem at all crazy, going into that second game this year, that this could all end in a spectacularly ugly divorce.
The crazy part now is how good they look a couple months later. Say what you want, but they haven’t burned out. Deion might win Coach of the Year, and he might well deserve it.
Maybe he’ll stick around a little longer. Maybe he won’t. (That’d be my bet.) But whatever happens next, he won’t be leaving Boulder as a failure. It’s been a Prime ol’ Time out west.
🏀 The Nuggets heard what I said last week, especially Jokic, who’s been amazing, including a casual 37-18-15 on Sunday in a tight game against the Mavericks. So they got me there, I guess? Better to win those games with heroic efforts from Jokic than just lose them, obviously. But my glass of Haterade remains half-full — I still don’t think it’s sustainable! I’m sorry!
🏈 And you know what else feels unsustainable? The Kansas City Chiefs, who still haven’t lost, and might… just… not? Any one of the Bills, Chargers, Texans, Steelers, or even the Broncos to end the year could be losses.
🥇 What does feel a little more sustainable, however, is this start from the Steph Curry Warriors. I’m back on 5x5 this week on this, and I’m cribbing this one line because it’s mine: there is no nostalgia in the Bay for the (don’t) Golden days. I’m on fire this week.
🏀 … apart from a game of H.O.R.S.E. that, in a more just world, would disqualify me from ever writing about basketball again. If nothing else, I would be banned from shooting the sky hook. Fortunately for me, that is not the world we live in. I live to sky hook again. Look out below!