Analyst’s optimistic, but measured, take on Colorado’s 2023 season

Daily Mail’s Jake Fenner had an optimistic, but measured, take on the 2023 Colorado football season a week ahead of their Week 1 opener against TCU — claiming that Deion Sanders will have his Buffaloes on the right track, but that CU will improve only slightly.

“While some may argue that losing all of those players will not deliver success, there’s one counter to said argument: last year, Colorado sucked,” Fenner wrote. “They went 1-11, with their only victory coming in an overtime thriller against Cal.

“So what can someone expect from Colorado? Improvement, but only slightly. This team will need time to gel and the Buffaloes have a schedule with five ranked teams on it – starting with Week 1 on the road at No. 17 TCU. Sanders should have the Buffaloes stepping in the right direction, but at a cautious pace – and he’ll be sure to do so in the most entertaining way possible.”

Colorado football has wildly mismatched expectations depending on who you ask

Coach Prime’s Colorado football program could end up being one of the most poorly analyzed teams in the preseason if the talent level of the team shines through over the chemistry question marks in 2023. Some analysts focus too much on the latter while ignoring countless programs that have thrived in the post-COVID era because of the transfer portal; programs like Ole Miss, Liberty, and 2022 College Football Playoff runner-up and Week 1 opponent TCU.

The Buffs have modest expectations and are actually set up well for success because of it. As conference realignment looms over teams like Wazzu and Oregon State, CU enters the campaign as the first Pac-12 team to jump to the Big 12 and inspire Arizona, ASU, and Utah to follow.

Even though Coach Prime will likely amp up the pressure on his players ten-fold, there is little external pressure because of lazy analysts who would rather doubt Sanders under any circumstances because of his controversial behavior than attempt to be objective.

That makes the Buffs dangerous in this writer’s opinion.