Colorado’s path through the 2026 season looks especially brutal in October.
That month stands out immediately on the Buffaloes’ schedule, with four games packed into a five-week stretch and a bye week dropped in the middle. The run begins Oct. 3 at home against Texas Tech, then Colorado gets a break before facing Utah on Oct. 17, traveling to Oklahoma State on Oct. 24, and closing the month at home against Kansas State on Oct. 31.
It’s a demanding slate for a team trying to bounce back from a 3-9 season in 2025. Texas Tech enters as the defending Big 12 champion, while Utah finished third in the conference and narrowly missed the Big 12 title game.
Kansas State finished tied for seventh, but is expected to rebound. Oklahoma State was winless in conference play last season, though it arrives in 2026 with a new coaching staff and roster.
Three of the four opponents Colorado sees in October are among the leading candidates to win the Big 12. DraftKings Sportsbook has Texas Tech as the clear favorite at +100 to win the conference title game.
BYU is next at +550, though Colorado does not play the Cougars in the regular season. Utah sits third at +650, followed by Kansas State at +1400.
Oklahoma State is ninth at +3000, while Colorado has the worst odds in the league at +12000.
That means the Buffs are likely to be underdogs in every game during the month. If they want to get back to a winning record, they’ll need to pull off a few surprises.
DraftKings has Colorado’s season win total at 4.5, with the under priced at -160 and the over at +134.
There is one small advantage in the October gauntlet: three of the four games are at home. The only road trip is to Oklahoma State, and Colorado was 0-5 away from home last season.
The bigger picture under Deion Sanders is a mixed one. Since taking over in 2023, Colorado is 16-21 overall.
Before Sanders arrived, the Buffaloes went 1-11 in the year prior. His first season produced a 4-8 record, then 2024 brought a major jump to nine wins and an Alamo Bowl berth.
But 2025 sent the program backward again, and the offseason brought another round of changes. Colorado added 43 transfer players and turned to new coordinators in Chris Marve on defense and Brennan Marion on offense.