Deion Sanders and Colorado are still alive in the bowl race, and the path may be tougher than it looks on paper.
At 2-5, the Buffaloes have already dropped five straight, but the record alone doesn’t capture what’s happened over the last three weeks. Colorado just worked through a brutal run against Utah, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State - three teams that have mattered in the Big 12 race. Utah is unbeaten, while Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are still in the mix.
The Buffs were competitive in all three. They stayed within one score early in the fourth quarter against Texas Tech before the Red Raiders pulled away.
Against Utah, Colorado carried a 17-13 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter before falling 27-24. And in Stillwater, the Buffs took a 24-23 halftime lead after Isaac Wilson went 14 of 16 for 222 yards before the break, with Colorado scoring on four of its first six possessions.
That kind of start was enough to make Sanders’ point feel believable: this team has not quit. The second half against Oklahoma State, though, turned into a collapse. The Cowboys rolled off 34 unanswered points, and Colorado never bounced back after fumbling on its first play after halftime.
Now the question is whether those flashes can actually turn into wins over the final five games. Colorado needs four more victories to become bowl eligible.
On paper, Houston is the one team left that looks like a clear underdog spot. But the rest of the schedule isn’t exactly soft, either, and every opponent still has something to chase.
Kansas State and Arizona State both sit at 4-3 and need more wins to help their own bowl cases. UCF is also 4-3 and comes in after upsetting No.
2 BYU. Cincinnati is 5-2 and fresh off a win over Texas Tech, keeping its conference-title hopes in play.
The stretch starts at home against Kansas State on Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. on TNT. Then Colorado heads to Arizona State on Nov.
- Houston comes next in a late-night home game on Nov. 13 at 10:15 p.m. on ESPN.
After that, the Buffs travel to Cincinnati on Nov. 21 before finishing at home against UCF on Nov. 28.
There’s at least an argument that Colorado has comparable talent to every team left on the schedule. The real issue is whether the Buffs can put together a full 60 minutes when it matters.
One win leads to another, and Colorado still has a shot to make the whole thing interesting. But the opposite is sitting right there, too.
In Year 4 of the Coach Prime era, the schedule didn’t do the Buffs any favors. The opportunity is still in front of them - now they have to finish the job.
In Other News...
Kansas State Heads To Boulder With Less Margin Than Fans Expected
The early read on Kansas States trip to Boulder suggests a tighter matchup than some around the Big 12 might have expected, with Colorado getting the benefit of playing at home and the game drawing attention for how evenly matched the two sides look on paper. For Buffaloes fans, that makes this one feel less like a simple measuring-stick game and more like a chance to see whether home-field advantage can help tilt things in their direction.
What makes the opener especially interesting is how much of the conversation comes back to execution. Both teams have enough offensive talent to make this one uncomfortable for the other side, and the betting market is already signaling that small details could matter more than reputations. The number attached to the game leaves plenty of room for movement, but for now it sets up a conference matchup that should carry real stakes from the opening kick. [Read more 🡒]
Deion Sanders And Colorado Are Facing A Much Bigger Problem
Colorados season has gone from frustrating to alarming in a hurry. The Buffaloes dropped their fifth straight game Saturday, falling 57-24 to Oklahoma State to slip to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big 12, and the final score only underscored how quickly a competitive first half can unravel when things start going sideways.
Deion Sanders has already made clear he sees the problem as bigger than play-calling or weekly adjustments. After signing a contract extension in 2025, he is now trying to steer a team that has not won a Big 12 game since October 2025 and has lost nine straight conference games, with Sanders stressing that the players have to want success for the university and for themselves. The challenge now is not just stopping the slide, but figuring out whether this group can still summon the buy-in and urgency needed to change it. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Faces A Kansas State Problem That Just Got Harder To Read
Kansas States quarterback picture is still unsettled heading into its meeting with Colorado, and that alone makes the matchup harder to sort out. Avery Johnson has been working through an injury, and coach Collin Klein said the Wildcats are continuing to monitor his recovery while also keeping tabs on the rest of the room.
The uncertainty does not stop with Johnson. Blake Barnett and Jacob Knuth are both part of the conversation, and Kleins latest update offered no easy read on who will take the first snap against the Buffaloes. For Colorado, the scouting report may end up coming down less to a name on the depth chart than to which version of Kansas State actually shows up. [Read more 🡒]