Boulder, Co – Coach Prime, and his Colorado Buffalo football team have a lot to prove to their fans and others because it seems all the hype surrounding the program is beginning to wear off. The media preseason Big 12 football conference ranking was released and the Buffs were ranked 11th out of 16 teams. Coach Prime is drumming up a speech to get Buffs fans engaged because the team couldn’t get one first-place vote from the media. There must not have been anyone from EA Sports College Football to provide some insight on why the Buff rankings should be higher. The hype that has surrounded the team has been all smoking mirrors from the beginning. The remarks about the offensive line needing to be replaced when that same offensive line helped the Buffs gain over 500 yards on offense against TCU in the opener last season. To make matters worse, three of the starting offensive linemen who were on the team last season before Coach Prime took over allowed a little over 20 quarterback sacks in 2022. Let that sink in for a minute. Even though the team went 4-8 last season matching the same number of conference wins the Buffs had in 2022 which was one, the confetti and champagne were flowing.
The Buffs have some exceptional players on the team to go along with quarterback Sheduer Sanders and two-way player Travis Hunter, unfortunately the talent top to bottom was considered mid at best and the media understood the Buffs were one-dimensional because they lacked a running game and playmakers outside of those on the first string on both sides of the ball. Sanders can’t allow himself to be sacked 50 more times this season. If the sack totals begin to mount up, Coach Prime will need to put a little bit of ownership on the quarterback play.
Hopefully, the defensive front will be more aggressive and able to disrupt opposing teams’ offenses, because the Buffs will need major help, to make sure they have their team in position to build leads and play from ahead. The Buffs defense was ranked 130th last season, and Shilo Sanders isn’t expected to return to the field until later in the season. The Buff fans should hope the young man isn’t rushed back onto the field sooner than he should with his current shoulder injury, only to further injure himself even worse.
Coach Prime and the Buffs team will continue to sell the idea that they will be playing for a Big 12 championship which is something all teams do before they line up in front of another team and get punched in the mouth. People should always have goals set for themselves, but they must make sure they are realistic. Winning the Big 12 and getting into the NCAA playoffs won’t happen this season, because there is so much work that needs to be done and missing pieces from the team to be mentally ready to play this upcoming season.
The Buffs will go 5-7 this season missing the cut to make it to a bowl game.