Despite a 42-6 blowout loss to Oregon on September 23, analysts stayed high on the Colorado football program’s prospects moving forward during the remainder of the 2023 season and on the recruiting trail. Several national sports analysts sent encouraging messages on the future of Coach Prime’s Buffs.
“The good news for (Colorado) fans is that Deion is likely not headed to the NFL or another school soon,” ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla wrote. “Everyone gets their ass kicked. Now he can build a program. I can’t imagine that high-level recruits will be scared off by this. If anything, there’s playing time to be had.”
“Yes, Deion has done a lot talking … because he’s great at it and he’s trying to send a recruiting message that Colorado is THE PLACE TO BE,” FS1’s Skip Bayless wrote. “The Lannings of the world are SCARED TO DEATH of what Deion is building. So Lanning can take his shots now, while he can. But #HeComing.”
“The floodgates are open for the Deion Sanders haters and Shedeur Sanders non-believers,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz prefaced before saying, “That’s fine. Just know one loss doesn’t define a head coach or a program. Oregon has one helluva team and Autzen is no joke! But Colorado is not going anywhere either. Coach Prime will have his guys back up and running and the Buffs will be a tough out all season in the Pac.”
Getting first loss out of the way good for Colorado football despite blowout nature of Oregon loss
Losing by 36 points, and being down 35-0 at halftime, is never ideal, but in many ways, losing was not the worst thing for the Colorado football program considering the unfathomable hype that was artificially building after two overrated wins over Colorado State and Nebraska.
The Buffs have become something bigger than football; a cultural phenomenon for folks who have never watched college football before. Now that many know that CU is not actually a contender — which is something anyone who follows the Pac-12 regularly could’ve told you as Colorado continued winning through the season’s first three weeks — the expectations could be realistic in Boulder moving forward.
Bowl eligibility is all that anyone could’ve hoped for coming into the season considering their 3.5 over/under win total, and now that their first loss is out of the way, the focus could be where it should’ve been all along.
That probably means less circus-like attention on the program, or at least less attention on anyone claiming Colorado can contend for the Pac-12, let alone the College Football Playoff, as the schedule begins to welcome the likes of USC, UCLA, Oregon State, Wazzu, and Utah in the coming months; and the losses likely start piling up.