Colorado’s 2026 season has already taken a sharp turn, and the heat around Deion Sanders is climbing with it.
After opening with consecutive wins, the Buffaloes have now dropped three in a row - to Northwestern, Baylor and Texas Tech - and sit at 2-3 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 play. The bye week arrives at a tense moment, with the noise around Sanders growing louder by the day.
Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd added plenty of fuel to that fire, taking another hard shot at Sanders after Colorado’s recent slide. On The Herd, Cowherd questioned whether Sanders has proven he can deliver sustained success as a head coach at the highest level of college football.
"I call Deion Sanders the anti-Curt Cignetti. It's all flash and no substance.
At one point they sent eight players on the field for special teams. They called a timeout, and then the next play, sent out nine.
They're just disorganized," said Cowherd on The Herd.
"Deion can win at the lower level because it's recruiting. If you can recruit the lower level and have better players and the star quarterback, you're gonna win games. . .
He's a recruiter, he's not a real head coach. The most penalized team in his conference," Cowherd continued.
Cowherd’s point was bigger than one busted sequence. In his view, Sanders has thrived when his teams have held the talent edge, but that advantage gets a lot harder to lean on when the opponent matches up well or better.
That criticism lands in a complicated spot for Sanders, because recruiting has been one of his biggest calling cards. He has turned Colorado into a national storyline and dragged the program back into relevance. Even Cowherd acknowledged that Sanders made the Buffaloes matter again.
But relevance only goes so far when the results stop showing up.
Colorado’s rough stretch started to snowball once Big 12 play hit. The Buffaloes were blown out 41-7 by Northwestern, then lost to Baylor and Texas Tech. The Texas Tech defeat stung in a different way, coming at home and arriving when Colorado was trying to get something positive back after the earlier losses.
Instead, the Buffaloes were beaten 29-7 and had trouble finding any rhythm on offense. Isaac Wilson threw three interceptions while completing 26 of 55 passes, adding to the uncertainty at quarterback.
That position has become one of the biggest issues on the roster, and Sanders has already said publicly that the quarterback room is a major problem. Colorado, meanwhile, is still searching for consistency on offense against Power Four competition.
The bye week now becomes a chance to sort through all of it - the roster, the coaching, and the quarterback situation - before the Buffaloes return against No. 12 Utah.
Sanders brought attention back to Boulder quickly after inheriting a program that had been struggling for years. He made Colorado interesting again, and he brought in highly regarded talent. But the next step is the one that matters most: turning that visibility into steady wins.
For Colorado, the margin for error is getting thin. The Buffaloes need cleaner play, better work in the trenches and far fewer costly mistakes if they want the conversation around Sanders to change. If the struggles carry over after the bye, the criticism is only going to get louder.
In Other News...
K-State Faces An Early Gut Check In A Game That Could Turn Late
Kansas State gets a midday home test Saturday when Houston comes to Bill Snyder Family Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff, and it has the feel of a game that could stay tight deep into the second half. The buildup around this one has centered on how the Wildcats match up with a Houston team that has shown enough to make the odds and the recent form worth paying attention to, especially with both sides bringing strengths that could play well in a close, physical game.
For Kansas State, the bigger picture is simple: this is the kind of early gut check that can shape how the rest of the week feels around Manhattan. The preview of the matchup points to a competitive night with injury news still part of the conversation and a slight edge going to Houston, so the Wildcats may need to be sharp from the start if they want to turn a coin-flip type of game in their favor late. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona State Sits In A Stretch That Could Define Colorados Bowl Push
Colorados bye week arrives with the kind of math that can sharpen a season in a hurry. At 2-3, the Buffaloes still have a path to bowl eligibility, but it asks them to win four of their final seven games, and the margin for error is thin with a schedule that still includes UCF, Arizona State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Houston and Oklahoma State.
Arizona State is part of the stretch that may define whether Colorado keeps that hope alive or watches it slip away. The Buffaloes have to find more dependable offense and hold up better on defense against a run of opponents that includes several ranked teams, which means every remaining week carries more weight than the last and the games against the Big 12 middle can no longer be treated like soft landing spots. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Faces A Huge Big 12 Test With Early Stakes Already Rising
Houstons trip to Manhattan stands out as one of the most intriguing Big 12 games of the week, even in a slate filled with eye-catching matchups. Kansas State gets the kind of early measuring-stick game that can sharpen the picture of where both teams really belong in the league race, while Houston arrives with a chance to show it can handle the week-to-week grind that comes with life in the conference.
The broader Week 6 board also gives this one extra texture, with Arizona at West Virginia, Iowa State at BYU, UCF at Oklahoma State, Kansas at Utah and Hawaii at Arizona State each carrying their own hooks. Still, the Houston-Kansas State game has a little more edge to it because early stakes are already starting to matter, and both sides can turn a solid performance into something bigger as the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]