This time a year ago, Boulder and environs—some would say all of college football, as measured by the television networks—was buzzing over Coach Prime’s approaching debut as the University of Colorado’s head football coach.
This year, not so much.
In fact, that sense of high-flying anticipation has been replaced with doubt, or at least question.
How good of a college football coach is Deion Sanders? Really.
He’s colorful. He talks a great game. But are the players he puts on the field able to hold their own against top teams?
Big 12 coaches don’t think so. CU finished 11th of 16 teams in their preseason poll. One local writer predicted 7th.
Last season started with a flourish: an upset of 2022 national championship runner-up Texas Christian, followed by hard-fought home wins over Nebraska and Colorado State, the latter in come-from-behind fashion.
Even after a crushing loss to national title contender Oregon and a home defeat by Southern California, the Buff bounced Arizona State in Tempe to stand 4-2 at the halfway point.
But six straight losses, four of them by a total of 19 points, including a second-half collapse against Stanford that resulted in an overtime loss, turned 4-2 into 4-8 in a painful 49 days.
Coach Prime may be riding a six-game losing streak into 2024, but he sounds much the same as he did entering his first season in Boulder.
“This is gonna be a great year,” he said just before the Buffs opened practice for the coming season last week. “I know it. I’ve seen it. God whispered it to me.
“Now, all we gotta do is manifest it and make it happen. I believe.”
It won’t be easy, even with God’s help.
North Dakota State is the opening foe, on August 29, in Boulder.
Before you chalk up Win No. 1, though, realize that NDSU is, to the second tier of college football, what Alabama is to the top level.
The Bison have won 17 national championships, including nine between 2011 and 2021. Since 2004 their record is 202-39. They lost in the FCS national semifinals last season to eventual runner-up Montana, 31-29 in double overtime.
The trip to Lincoln the following week won’t be a picnic, either, for a couple of reasons, in particular.
First, league coaches rate Nebraska 8th among 18 teams in the expanded Big Ten, which is considered tougher than the Big 12. Second, the Cornhuskers and their fans will be looking to get even with Colorado for last season’s 36-14 thumping in Boulder.
Likewise, Colorado State will have home cooking on its side when the Rams and Buffs meet in Fort Collins on September 14. CSU also will be out to avenge defeat—a 43-35 double-overtime loss in Boulder, a game the Rams led 28-20 in the final minute of regulation.
Then come nine straight Big 12 opponents. And only two of them are rated lower than CU by conference coaches.
A year ago, the biggest buzz in Boulder was Prime’s remaking of the roster with only nine scholarship players returning from 2022.
This time is no different, though the hype machine’s volume is lower.
For the record, “formers” from at least these 17 schools are expected to contribute significantly:
Texas, Florida State, LSU, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Liberty, UNC-Charlotte, Vanderbilt, Florida Atlantic, UConn, Houston, UTEP, Florida International and Villanova.
Almost half of them are offensive linemen, which quarterback Shedeur Sanders no doubt appreciates after he led the nation in a dubious category in the 2023 season—being sacked 52 times!
If his dad can keep him upright and not fleeing for his life, Shedeur could live up to the opinion of Big 12 coaches, who made him their first-team all-Big 12 quarterback in preseason voting.
He could even wind up in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
It’s not likely that Coach Prime will match, or even approach, his second-year record at Jackson State, when his Tigers finished 11-2 and won the Southwest Athletic Conference without a loss.
But don’t try to tell him that.
Sanders insists the Buffs could be surprise contenders for a berth in the expanded, 12-team national championship tournament.
At the least, he expects his team to play in a bowl game.
You must admit, that would be progress if it happens.Denny Dressman is a veteran of 43 years in the newspaper business, including 25 at the Rocky Mountain News, where he began as executive sports editor. He is the author of 16 books, nine of them sports-related. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.