By the end of the 2024 college football season, it seemed as if the Colorado Buffaloes had it all. Shedeur Sanders was being projected as one of the top picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, Travis Hunter was on the verge of winning the Heisman trophy, and Deion Sanders had finally managed to secure a place in the national rankings.
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Cut to today, however, and we see a program that is 2-2 with next to no identity on offense. According to their NFL Hall of Fame head coach, Deion Sanders, it’s times like these when you need to remember your motivations for being here in the first place.
“Guys, we’re playing against some darn grown men,” Sanders informed his team ahead of their home game against the BYU Cougars. “Always understand what your why is. You can never lose sight of your why. It’s some of you, sometimes you get out there, and it’s no way your why matches what you’re giving us.”
After asking any of his players to stand up and share their whys with him, one member of the roster stated the obvious, and that’s the fact that he’s pursuing a career in professional football because he simply wants better for himself. According to Sanders, that’s not going to cut it.
“The problem with being better for ourselves is we got a propensity to quit on us. I’m not pointing you out. It’s got to be something else that you’re doing this for and sacrificing for, because when we do it for ourself… You ever go jogging by yourself and nobody’s looking at you and you stop? But when you had somebody to hold you accountable there, you didn’t stop, because there’s an accountability piece there in your why? I love the passion that you play with, I just want you to keep the light burning.”
Unfortunately, it’s going to take a bit more than some self-belief in order for Colorado to overcome the Cougars this weekend. Oddsmakers are listing BYU as -6.5 point favorites, with the comeback on Colorado’s money line sitting at just over +200 odds.
The 25th-ranked Cougars are currently averaging more than 43 points per contest throughout their first three games this season. Considering the fact that Colorado hasn’t scored 40 points in a game since November of 2024, it certainly seems as if they’ll be outgunned heading into this one.
Nevertheless, they still have home-field advantage and one of the most decorated coaching staffs in the nation. The problem will not lie in their preparation, but rather in their execution.
Thankfully, whether they win or lose, they’ll still have Sanders with them. Thanks to his $54-million contract extension, the 58-year-old play caller is locked in through the 2029 season.
Given the amount of success that he’s brought not only to the program, but to the greater Boulder area as a whole, it’s safe to say that the Buffaloes will continue trending upwards as time goes on. After all, a 2-3 start to the season is still a whole lot better than the 1-11 record that they produced in 2022 prior to Sanders’ signing.
