Week 11 opponent gives Colorado ‘template to follow’ moving forward
Moving forward, the Colorado football program could use the team that knocked off the Buffs 34-31 on November 11 during CU’s final 2023 home game, Arizona, as a template to follow according to BuffZone’s Pat Rooney — who used ex-Colorado wideout-turned-Wildcats weapon Montana Lemonious-Craig as a symbol of someone who went from the beginning stages of a rebuild, where losing closely is an accomplishment, to a situation where the rebuild was just about complete.
“As the sun set on another home slate at Folsom, there was Lemonious-Craig, one of the few productive players on an otherwise unsightly team last year, reveling in the glow of victory on his former turf,” Rooney prefaced before saying, “If the home schedule opened amid the electricity of the Prime era, with a pair of exciting rivalry wins to christen Deion Sanders with the Folsom faithful, it ended with a whimper as the struggling Buffs fell 34-31 to No. 23 Arizona on a last-second field goal.
“Lemonious-Craig left a CU program going through a complete reboot to join an Arizona team that believed it was on the cusp of a significant breakthrough in its rebuilding project. And indeed the Wildcats have turned the corner, winning their fourth consecutive game while perhaps leaving the Buffaloes with a template to follow when they finally turn the page on 2023 to take aim at bigger things in 2024.”
Colorado football not far from contending for conference championships
In its final year of existence — at least as a legitimate Power Five conference on par with the ACC and Big 12 and a tad behind the Big Ten and the SEC — the Pac-12 ended up being the deepest conference in the country.
Still, CU was within striking distance of knocking off USC, Oregon State, and Arizona in 2023.
The Buffs are not far from being the team casuals thought they’d be after their 3-0 start. Sure, CU could’ve been in a bowl, and very much still can be, but this was always going to be a long rebuild; one that won’t be done this offseason as Coach Prime and his coaching staff look to move the needle closer to college football glory.