By Carlin Alford
Now that the dust has settled on the college football season and a champion has been crowned, maybe we should take another look at something we’ve never seen before and may never see again…the wild season of the Colorado Buffaloes.
The whole thing feels like a public experiment in pop culture, Sociology, Economics, race relations, and new school college athletics. The question is, “What did we just witness from a football standpoint?” Were the Buffs a 2-10 team that overachieved or a 10-2 team that underachieved? The answer is neither. They were a 4-8 team and believe it or not, that’s not so bad.
The 2022 version of the Buffs was so bad that you could only measure their failure against history. Going 1-11 is only the beginning. Losing those games by an average of 29 points was embarrassing. The next closest loser was still 14 points better.
To evaluate the season you have to start with what was expected. Nobody knew what to expect. Coach Prime has been a winner from youth to high school to FCS. Detractors will disparage his coaching accomplishments, but numbers don’t lie. The competition level was different at every stop. The constant in each equation has always been Deion and his sons, Shedeur in particular because he’s a quarterback.
Coach Prime landed in Boulder with his luggage (Louis, I believe), some catchphrases, and a whole lot of confidence. The original intent was to shed 20 players from the 1-11 squad who weren’t cutting it in the classroom, had long-term injuries, had behavior issues, or showed little effort in preparation. He sent scouts into the weight rooms and position meetings. He sent coaches to classes and found out that a 1-11 team is that way for a reason. He came in hot…so hot that he scared off most of the roster.
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After losing 51 players to the transfer portal the Buffs had no spring session worth mentioning. How could the brand-new Offensive and Defensive Coordinators implement anything with roughly one-third of the scholarship players on campus? Originally, Prime was bringing his 10 from Jackson State and then he was going to get another 10 from the portal. When most of the existing teams hit the trail, it basically meant building a Division 1 FBS football team…from scratch. New players, new coaches, new trainers, new theme music, and new uniforms.
In FBS you only have a certain number of practices you can have according to NCAA rules. So, what was the expectation for a team that just came together in full trim in August? Vegas set the over/under for wins at 3.5. It doesn’t sound like much, but in reality, the expectation was to increase their wins by at least 300% and it still wouldn’t get them to .500.
If there is one game to blame for the over-the-top, hyperbolic hype it would be TCU. With everything pointing to immediate chaos, Colorado strolled into Ft. Worth as three-touchdown underdogs. It seemed proper because TCU was fresh off a National Championship appearance (even though they got boat raced by Georgia). The Frogs were ranked #17 while the Buffs didn’t even have game film because 90% of the roster and 100% of the coaching staff were new.
Everything Coach Prime did was calculated. The “ice cold” all-white uniforms helped dissipate the 100-degree heat. The spread offense stretched the TCU secondary despite the Frogs having a first-rounder at cornerback. Sheduer set the NCAA record for most Passing Yards in an FBS debut with 510. Four receivers had over 100 yards each. The team only had eight penalties. Dylan Edwards had four touchdowns. Travis Hunter was spectacular on both sides of the ball…all while Coach Prime started the Heisman talk for both Shadeur and Travis at halftime. Who does that? That win on National TV, obliterating the Vegas spread in the face of traditional college curmudgeons across America started the biggest hype locomotive for any one program since Notre Dame let Rudy play.
The next 11 games can only be described as “reality”. It’s not that the TCU win wasn’t legit. It was. It was near perfect. For the equivalent of an AAU team (assembled roster with very little practice), it was one of the most impressive upsets ever. However, nobody saw them coming. Despite Coach Prime’s frequent proclamations that “We coming” you couldn’t have predicted this. Not even Vegas.
After TCU, everyone had game film. Colorado rode an emotional wave fueled by Coach Prime’s motivational speeches and incredible play from the skill positions, but with each win came more exposure, and that exposure showed glaring weaknesses. The offensive line couldn’t contain straight-line blitzes. Colorado couldn’t run the ball…at all. Third downs were a challenge because the Buffs only had slot-type receivers (nobody over 6’1). The defense couldn’t pressure the quarterback and the linebackers were susceptible on the edges. On top of all that Coach Prime’s staff couldn’t manage the clock, substitutions, or penalties.
Yet…the Buffs were competitively in every game except Oregon and Washington State only losing by an average of 6 points. They were exciting even in losses, but there was dysfunction in the offensive coaching room. Coach Prime couldn’t manage the clock and injuries to their top players showed a gross lack of depth on the roster. Deion never made excuses and the reasons he gave for their failures were real.
In the end, 4-8 was who the Colorado Buffaloes really were.
The details of the season will fade with every passing year and one day only the numbers will remain. For a team with so many weaknesses and so much self-induced pressure, it seems surreal that anybody expected anything from this squad. But remember this, Coach Prime has increased the win total of every team he has ever coached year over year. Vegas has the line for 2024 at six wins and obviously that’s a bowl appearance. If he fixes the roster issues can they get 7-10 wins? Prime already promised on Good Morning America that they will be in the CFP when it expands to 12 teams this year. How?
Next, we’ll take a look at the roster changes since the portal opened to determine if six wins is “reality” or if the Buffs and Coach Prime are headed for a run to make the CFP. Stay tuned.
