Coach Prime’s preseason hype made 4-8 Colorado finish a failure: Analyst

BuffZone’s Brian Howell, typically optimistic about the Colorado football program, was brutally honest about the expectations Coach Prime set for his Buffs — and how that made the 2023 season a failure after a 3-0 start turned into a 4-8 finish.

With that said, he did see the rainbow at the end of the downpour for Deion Sanders’ program.

“Because of the fast start and the hype – much of it created by Sanders – the Buffs’ season could be deemed as a failure,” Howell prefaced before saying, “Yet, the progress was in line with or better than most programs in a similar position.”

University of Colorado AD Rick George optimistic about Colorado football season and the program’s future

Colorado AD Rick George stressed to Howell how proud he was of Coach Prime’s debut season in Boulder and spoke about what kind of future he envisions for the Buffs as the “Prime Time” era continues.

“I think if you went into this year, from at the end of last year, you’d be really happy to where we are,” George said to BuffZone. “The fact that we’ve competed in (almost) every game tells me a lot about these players and I think when we get a full year with a group under our belt, I think we’re gonna see results that are going to really be meaningful.

“We’ve got coaches that have been together a short period of time. We’ve got players that have been together a short period of time. I feel like we’re in a good spot.  It hasn’t been great (on the field), but we’re in a good spot. We’ll have some momentum going into recruiting and then we’ll get back at it in January, hopefully with a full team that has been together and they’ve got eight months to work until the next season.”

Whether or not the sunshine-pumping from George will be justified hinges on how Colorado performs in the transfer portal. Coach Prime won’t emphasize the 2024 high school class; leading something that’s resulted in a wave of de-commitments.