Colorado’s path in 2026 starts with a simple question: can the Buffaloes get back to a bowl game?
That’s been a rare destination in Boulder lately. Colorado has reached just three bowl games in the past 10 years, and only one of those came during Deion Sanders’ three seasons as head coach. The bigger ambition is clear enough - become a steady bowl team and a regular name in the Big 12 race - but right now the Buffs are still being picked near the bottom of the league by most observers.
There’s a reason the outlook is murky. Colorado went through a major offseason makeover, bringing in two new coordinators and more than 40 transfers.
That kind of turnover makes any forecast tricky. Even after spring ball, the staff at Buffaloes Wire landed on a 6-6 prediction, which would be a sizable jump from last season’s 3-9 finish.
With fall camp wrapped and the opener against Georgia Tech just days away, the site’s predictions remain split but mostly cluster around that same bowl-eligible range.
Ariana Pensy sees Colorado finishing 6-6, just enough to sneak into postseason play. She pointed to a schedule that includes three opponents in the first US LBM Coaches Poll: No.
12 Texas Tech, No. 21 Utah and No.
24 Houston. All three are home games, but she doesn’t think that changes much.
Georgia Tech in the opener is another difficult test, though she also sees a path through a handful of winnable matchups. Weber State in Week 2 is the first of those, and she also singled out Big 12 games against Baylor and Cincinnati as realistic chances for Colorado to pick up wins.
In her view, the Buffs will be better than they were a year ago, but not good enough to reach the conference title game.
James Carnes is more optimistic. He has Colorado finishing 8-4 and taking a clear step forward behind what he sees as improved leadership and stability, enough to produce a strong bowl berth.
Charlie Strella also lands on 6-6, though he sees the schedule as unforgiving. In his view, Colorado has only four close-to-automatic wins: Weber State, K-State, Cincinnati and UCF.
He said it would be understandable if someone thought there was only one certain win on the slate. The early stretch matters most to him, especially road trips to Georgia Tech, Northwestern and Baylor.
If Colorado can win two of those, he believes a bowl game should follow. If not, the season could go sideways quickly.
Still, he thinks this is a more talented and better-prepared CU team than last year’s group, and that six wins is within reach.
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