Georgia Tech and Colorado will open the 2026 season Thursday night in Atlanta, and both teams are walking in with a very different look on offense than they had a year ago.
That matters because the Yellow Jackets already showed last season what their ground game can do against the Buffaloes. In the 2025 opener in Boulder, Georgia Tech piled up 320 rushing yards in a 27-20 win and used that performance as the launch point for a 9-4 season. It was the program’s first nine-win year since 2016.
The challenge now is replacing the engine that drove that attack. Quarterback Haynes King, who was responsible for 299 of Georgia Tech’s 463 yards in that opener and ran for 156 himself, is now in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers. In his place, Alberto Mendoza steps in at quarterback, while the Jackets also bring in a new backfield piece in Justice Haynes, a transfer from Michigan who is making his Georgia Tech debut.
Haynes, who is from Alpharetta, Ga., arrives with no shortage of belief.
"I believe we can win a national championship," he said. "I truly believe that, and I believe in what coach (Brent) Key is building."
Colorado, meanwhile, is trying to move on from a 3-9 season - its third under Deion Sanders and the roughest of the three. The Buffaloes dropped seven of their final eight games, and the offseason brought a major reset on both sides of the ball. Brennan Marion now runs the offense with a faster tempo, and Chris Marve is in charge of the defense.
The quarterback job belongs to 18-year-old Julian Lewis, the former five-star recruit from Carrollton, Ga. Lewis appeared in four games late last season, starting two, and finished 52 of 94 for 589 yards and four touchdowns.
He won’t be short on targets. Colorado rebuilt its receiver room through the transfer portal, adding Danny Scudero from San Jose State, DeAndre Moore from Texas and Kam Perry from Miami (Ohio). All three are expected to play major roles in Marion’s “Go-Go” offense.
"To me, if we're operating at our fullest, we're winning," Marion said. "I want to operate in a system that creates our players and gives championship habits and gives them the ability to go win games and win plays."
In Other News...
Which Former Colorado Stars Survived NFL Cutdown Day
NFL cutdown day brought a familiar mix of celebration and anxiety for Colorado fans, but a handful of former Buffaloes made the good kind of news. LaJohntay Wester landed on the Baltimore Ravens 53-man roster, Jimmy Horn is on the Carolina Panthers team, and Chidobe Awuzie, Nate Landman and Williams Sherman also survived the league-wide trim as they head into the season with their new clubs.
Shedeur Sanders joined that group by making the Cleveland Browns roster, though his path in camp came with a different sort of spotlight. For Colorado followers, the bigger picture is encouraging: the program had multiple alumni earn roster spots across the league, a reminder that the Buffaloes NFL presence is still very much alive even if the next chapter for some of these players is only beginning to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Is Trying To Make Folsom Field Even Louder In 2026
Colorado is spending the run-up to the 2026 football season trying to turn Folsom Field into even more of a factor on Saturdays. Buffaloes athletics announced a new slate of in-game experiences aimed at keeping the crowd engaged from start to finish, including live music from Colorado bands throughout the game, a new in-game host in Gianna Girardi and an upgraded video board presentation.
It is all part of a broader push to sharpen the home-field edge and make the game-day environment feel bigger and louder for fans. For a program that has already leaned hard into atmosphere as part of its identity, the next step is figuring out how these changes actually land once the season arrives and the stands fill up. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado May Have Found A Camp Answer To Its Run Defense Problem
Fall camp has given Colorado a much clearer look at the interior of its defensive line, and Dylan Manuel has been one of the more encouraging developments. The Appalachian State transfer has worked his way into a starting role, where he has paired with Santana Hopper in the middle and given the Buffaloes a sturdier presence against the run.
For a defense that needed help holding up inside, Manuels early camp showing matters because it suggests Colorado may have found someone who can help steady that part of the front before the season starts. The Buffaloes still have games to play before anyone can know how it will translate, but having a lineman emerge this quickly gives the coaching staff at least one reason to feel better about the run defense heading into the fall. [Read more 🡒]