Saturday was for field storming, euphoria, and let's be honest, relief, in the aftermath of Colorado's upset win over No. 22 Iowa State. Not many teams were in more need of a signature win than Coach Prime's Buffaloes. After back-to-back losses and an 0-3 start in Big 12 play, Colorado scored a 24-17 win over the Cyclones.
But Saturday's euphoria is replaced by Monday's reality. Even after the win over Iowa State, Colorado is still 3-4 and facing an uphill battle to bowl eligibility. The win wasn't enough for either ESPN expert Mark Schlabach or Kyle Bonagura to place Colorado into their projected bowl fields.
Neither did On3's Brett McMurphy. Sports Illustrated's Bryan Fischer didn't include Colorado in his updated bowl projections either.
Colorado fans would be satisfied with making a bowl game at this point after how the season started. It's far short of preseason hopes and dreams, but it's right around where this team probably should be after overachieving last season and losing a lot of production. Missing a bowl would be a disappointment and a bigger step back than expected in year three of Coach Prime's tenure.
Colorado faces an uphill climb to bowl eligibility
It's a nice time to have a bye week for Coach Prime. Colorado figured some things out against Iowa State. Lifted by Kaidon Salter's phenomenal performance, the Buffaloes look like a dangerous team down the stretch.
But the remaining five games on the schedule will be difficult. Colorado dug itself a big hole at 2-4 that may ultimately prove to be too deep to dig out of and salvage a postseason bid.
Colorado needs to win three of its five remaining games against this remaining schedule:
at Utah
vs. Arizona
at West Virginia
vs. Arizona State
at Kansas State
The cleanest path will be to take care of business at home against Arizona and Arizona State, and then stealing one of the three remaining road games against Utah, West Virginia, or Kansas State. The trip to Morgantown probably provides the best opportunity to score a road win, but neither the Wildcats nor Sun Devils will be pushovers at Folsom.
Perhaps Colorado can catch Utah sleeping in two weeks in Salt Lake City. The Utes will be fresh off a rivalry matchup against BYU in the Holy War, and with an extra week to prepare, the Buffs should have a game plan ready to take advantage of Utah's flaws.
A second straight upset win would be enough to put Colorado back on the right side of the bowl bubble.