National writer has bold Colorado prediction for September
![A national college football writer had a bold prediction for the Colorado football program's record at the end of September Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports A national college football writer had a bold prediction for the Colorado football program's record at the end of September Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/4652aed3faa6955638faf079c5c5f816c977f35e2cad0e3533a408bd48296c9c.jpg)
After an offseason of the lowest expectations being shared by pundits all over the web, the Colorado football program has shifted the narrative completely after a 45-42 victory over TCU as a three-touchdown underdog — having 247Sports’ Brad Crawford now projecting the Buffs to exceed their preseason over/under win total of 3.5 games by the end of September and to make a bowl game.
“Remember when oddsmakers placed Colorado’s win total at 3.5? Sanders and the Buffaloes might trump that projection during the first month of the season,” Crawford wrote. “No team in Week 1 was more impressive than Colorado after an offensive explosion at TCU. There are three early dark-horse Heisman candidates on offense alone — quarterback Shedeur Sanders, two-way player Travis Hunter and freshman phenom Dylan Edwards. The Pac-12 title race may have an unexpected contender in 2023 led by a first-year coach.”
The gravity of Crawford’s prediction cannot be lost here. Winning four games by the end of September would mean beating three of Nebraska (seemingly manageable), Colorado State (expected at this point), Oregon in Autzen (no comment), and USC (more manageable than Oregon at least). Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, Dylan Edwards, and the rest of the talented pass-catching weapons Deion Sanders’ potential Heisman candidate son has at his disposal now have pundits believing. Not doing so will get you in Deion’s doghouse.
Colorado football beating TCU would be bigger than Buffs upsetting Oregon or USC
Getting that initial win out of the way the very first game of the season, on the road against the reigning College Football Playoff National Championship runner-up no less, has seemingly signaled to the talking heads that denigrating Coach Prime is a fool’s errand at this time. Talk has only been positive regarding Sanders and his Buffs in the days since September 2’s shocking results.
CU isn’t shocking anyone anymore. Too many star-making performances were had by a coach who has only gotten the most out of his players in the two non-COVID-19-stricken seasons of his coaching career.
If they upset Oregon or USC, it won’t be the upset that TCU was from a narrative perspective. Even though beating either would be a far bigger surprise from an apparent talent-gap perspective.