Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders may think the 2025 roster is stronger than the one that went 9-4 last year, but the box scores, eye tests, and advanced metrics all point to a much weaker product overall. CU is 3-7 with two games left against the Arizona State Sun Devils and Kansas State Wildcats. The Buffs won’t be bowl-eligible for the second time in three years of the “Prime Time” era in Boulder.
USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer believes Coach Prime gets more of a pass than he’s been willing to give himself because of the talent drop from last year’s Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter-led squad. The receiving trio of Will Sheppard, Jimmy Horn Jr., and LaJohntay Wester all ended up in the NFL as well, and weren’t replaced by the coaching staff with skill-position players anywhere close to their production.
Schrotenboer also threw blame on Liberty Flames transfer quarterback Kaidon Salter, who played himself out of a starting spot two different times this season.
“Colorado’s shortcomings this year can’t all be blamed on Sanders even if his remarks are intentionally self-indicting. The Buffaloes lost several top players to the NFL after last year’s 9-4 season, including Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and Sanders’ quarterback son Shedeur,” Schrotenboer wrote.
“Sanders brought in a top transfer quarterback to replace Shedeur, Kaidon Salter, who didn’t perform close to the level he did at Liberty in 2023, when he led his team to a 13-1 season. Tackling on defense also has been atrocious at times.”
Many saw CU’s fall from grace coming. Coach Prime was never going to sell his first team without his sons any other way than better than last year. There wasn’t the same level of playmaker on either side of the ball this go-round.
Even still, Sanders’ clock management has cost Colorado in a 24-21 loss to the BYU Cougars in late September, and their season-opening 27-20 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Week 1. Both losses came at home.
Talent is one thing. This coaching staff hasn’t had these players in a position to win, though. Credit Coach Prime for recognizing that. The thing he won’t recognize is that he’s not building a program the right way. He’s not doing the recruiting legwork to actually have a talent advantage.
Oddly enough, the media he was once critical of is now carrying water for the Buffs. Coach Prime’s methods have crashed into a wall called reality, but the Shedeur and Travis excuse continues to permeate when it goes way beyond that.