The College Football Playoff is heading for another big jump, and that change could reshape the road for Colorado and Deion Sanders.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the playoff will expand from 12 teams to 24 beginning with the 2027 season. That moves the sport into an even wider postseason, with ESPN also working to finalize a deal for broadcasting rights. The network already carries the postseason with TNT and TBS Sports, while the national championship game remains exclusively on ESPN and ABC.
The structure still keeps some familiar lines in place. Power Four conference champions would continue to earn automatic bids, and the top Group of Six champion would also get in ahead of the rest of that group.
In this format, the highest-ranked conference winner from the Pac-12, Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt, Conference USA, American Athletic Conference or MAC would claim that spot. James Madison’s 2025 path is a reminder of how that can work, since the one-loss Sun Belt champion made the field under this setup.
The bigger shift is in the at-large pool. Multiple reports say 19 teams could now receive at-large bids, with the top eight seeds earning first-round byes. That likely means several of those byes will go to Power Four champions, and teams that earn them could host a second-round home game.
For the Big 12, the numbers get interesting fast. If a 24-team playoff had already been in place for 2025, the league would have placed four teams in the field: Utah, BYU, Arizona and Texas Tech. Texas Tech would have been the one to earn the first-round bye.
Colorado is also looking toward a bigger recruiting class for 2027, which lines up with the first year of this expanded playoff. That gives Sanders and the Buffaloes a chance to build with the new format in mind. But a larger field does not mean a free pass for the Big 12 or for Colorado.
Quality wins will still matter, and the committee is likely only to take three Big 12 teams if that group finishes with two losses or fewer in the regular season. If Colorado were to go 9-3, the Buffs would probably still need at least one win over a ranked opponent to get serious attention. Finishing in the top three of the conference would help their case.
There is also a real possibility that conference title games, including the Big 12 championship, could disappear under the expanded postseason. If that happens, Colorado and Sanders would be under even more pressure to stack up a nine-win season and land at least one statement victory.
Even Colorado’s 2024 team, which finished 9-4, would not have been locked in. Its best regular-season win came against an 8-5 Texas Tech team, and under this format the Buffs would likely have slotted behind BYU, Iowa State and Big 12 champion Arizona State. So while the move to 24 teams opens new doors, it does not erase the uncertainty for Colorado.
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Buffs Let A Stronger Start Slip Away At Stanford
Colorado had some early positives at the Stanford Intercollegiate before the opening round settled into a tougher afternoon, leaving the Buffaloes in 14th place after a 15-over-par start. Senior Maya McVey provided the best round for Colorado, carding a 1-over 72 to pace the lineup while the team tried to keep contact with a deep field playing on a demanding course.
Stanford set the tone at the top of the leaderboard, opening at 13-under-par and creating an early gap the Buffaloes will need to chase down. For Colorado, the task now is less about salvaging one round than finding the steadier stretch that can turn a rough opening into a climb over the next 36 holes. [Read more 🡒]
Buffs Are One Win From A Breakthrough With NCAA Stakes
Colorados women were still alive in the ITA Mountain Regional Championships thanks to a strong run from Lera Alexin and Ema Bubalo, who moved through the quarterfinals and into the doubles final with a chance to keep the Buffs postseason hopes climbing. The pairs success came as Heidi Crncans singles run ended in the round of 16 against Utahs Sara Akid, leaving Colorado with its clearest path in doubles.
Alexin and Bubalo now sit one win away from a regional championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Individual Championships, a prize that would put a real exclamation point on the Buffs weekend. Their next opponent will come from the other side of the bracket, and the matchup only adds to the stakes for a Colorado duo that has already given the program a meaningful lift at the right time. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Heads Into Utah With Key Availability Questions Still Looming
Colorados Week 7 injury report brought a mix of relief and concern as the Buffaloes prepared for Utah, with several names shifting in and out of availability ahead of the trip. Edge rusher Immanuel Ezeogu has been cleared to play, while Lester remains questionable and multiple starters are still dealing with injuries that could affect both sides of the ball.
The bigger changes came with the status of Martinez, who was removed from the injury report, and Perry, who is out for the Utah game. For a Colorado team trying to manage its depth on the fly, those updates only add to the uncertainty surrounding how much of the rotation will actually be available when the Buffaloes take the field. [Read more 🡒]