Paul Finebaum needed only one snap to fuel his latest warning about Colorado.
The ESPN analyst zeroed in on Isaac Wilson’s interception out of his own end zone late in Saturday’s 29-7 loss to Texas Tech, a mistake that linebacker John Curry turned into a touchdown. It was the kind of play that can swallow an entire afternoon, and for Colorado it became the clearest symbol of a third straight defeat.
“When the last image of a program’s last breath is your quarterback in his own end zone throwing a pick-six, it’s over,” Finebaum said on Saturday’s edition of The Matt Barrie show.
Colorado is now 2-3, and the scoreboard has started to match the noise around the program. The Buffaloes have scored 27 points across losses to Northwestern, Baylor and Texas Tech, and switching from Julian Lewis to Wilson hasn’t fixed the offensive issues that keep showing up.
Finebaum also circled back to his long-standing doubts about Deion Sanders taking the Colorado job, while admitting the program made him rethink that position for a stretch.
“But I never liked the move to Colorado. It just felt too far away from his core base. It just didn’t feel right,” he said.
“And I was completely wrong for a while because they bought into it.”
That was the reality of Colorado’s nine-win season in 2024. For a while, Sanders made the move look like a hit. The question now is whether he can recreate that kind of success after Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter moved on to the NFL.
Matt Barrie added his own perspective, saying he’d met Sanders in Atlanta while getting ready to call Colorado’s opener against Georgia Tech.
“He puts the players first. He lets them be them. He lets them market themselves,” Barrie said.
“But he’s also old school, Paul. He’s one of those guys that demands hard work.”
Barrie said Sanders was not the type to quit, then floated the idea of an “amicable divorce” down the line. That was presented as a possibility, not as a report of any actual talks between Sanders and Colorado.
Finebaum, for his part, predicted an ending that could come “either gracefully or spectacularly badly.” Neither man said Colorado had decided to move on from Sanders.
There is also a contract reality here: Colorado extended Sanders through 2029 in March 2025. That matters as the losses pile up and the questions get louder.
Still, the biggest problem is easy to spot on the field. Colorado actually outgained Texas Tech 375-315, but four interceptions, including three from Wilson, erased that edge in a hurry. Moving the ball meant little when the giveaways kept handing the game back.
Afterward, Sanders was blunt.
“We’ve been horrible,” he said.
Colorado still has a path to six wins, which would require four victories over its final seven games, starting with Utah. Finebaum thinks Sanders will be thinking about his next move. Colorado, meanwhile, needs to think about its next possession.
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What makes the stretch run so unforgiving is the math attached to it. Texas Tech likely needs at least six wins in its final seven regular-season games to stay on track for the Big 12 Championship Game, which leaves little room for a stumble once play resumes. The schedule may still offer paths forward, but the margin is thin and the room for error is shrinking fast. [Read more 🡒]