Coach Prime winning the 2023 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year despite Colorado football going 4-8 during his first season in Boulder greatly angered several posters on the X platform — prompting many to question the criteria for SI’s annual award for excellence.
“Didn’t beat one team with a winning record, went 1-8 in Conference play and finished the season losing 6 games in a row,” one poster prefaced before deadpanning, “Seems legit.”
“I seriously had to check & see if this was a parody account,” said another.
“Y’all made this decision in September and got to stick with it,” another poster prefaced before saying, “I love prime but c’mon man.”
“A long way to go,” one cautious poster prefaced before saying, “Let’s see if that pays off over the years. As of now, too much hype.”
“Will the alternate cover with Alex Golesh be offered in the Southeastern part of the country?” asked one poster who prefers the man who took the USF — and made the Bulls bowl-eligible in his first season — job over Coach Prime; who shockingly spurned his home state for Colorado.
“Journalists want us to take them seriously but also put out obvious rage bait like this, pick a struggle,” said one ticked poster.
“Yeah, I think it’s fair to assume they decided on this a little too soon,” another exclaimed.
Coach Prime done disservice by those who overreacted to 3-0 Colorado football start
Undoubtedly, the high point of Colorado’s season was the 36-14 beatdown of their long-time rival Nebraska in Week 2. Many thought that the season peaked against Colorado State in the 2023 Rocky Mountain Showdown, though.
Wrong. It took two overtimes to knock off a team CU was favored by nearly four touchdowns. The glitz and glamour of all the celebrities on the University of Colorado’s campus seemingly blinded everyone by how disappointing that result was for the Buffs.
By not declaring the CSU matchup as the end of the Buffs hype, Colorado was a sitting duck heading into their Week 4 matchup with Oregon; an eventual 42-6 blowout of the Buffs by Bo Nix and Co.
Coach Prime was done a disservice by Colorado’s overrated 3-0 start. The media may have gotten the attention they were after by declaring CU a College Football Playoff contender and Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter Heisman candidates, but now the Buffs are in a hole that will be incredibly tough to climb out of.