Any shred of optimism Colorado fans felt about the 2025 season following the win over Iowa State was beaten out of them in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
With an extra week of preparation, Colorado was still demolished by Utah 53-7 in a game that wasn't even that close. The Utes broke out to a 43-0 halftime lead, and the Buffs had negative yards of offense in the first half.
It was as thorough of a beatdown as you will ever see from two power conference foes. One team looked like a Big 12 contender. The other looked like a bottom feeder. It's not supposed to look like that in year three for Coach Prime.
For the third season in a row, despite plenty of offseason posturing, Colorado has been wholly overmatched on both lines of scrimmage against power conference opponents. That was never more evident than it was against Utah. The Utes outrushed Colorado 422-38.
There's no Shedeur Sanders to make magic happen on broken plays anymore. Kaidon Salter had to run for his life from the opening snap, and all he could do was throw the ball away. Time and time again.
It's the issues up front, on both sides of the ball, that are threatening to define the entire Coach Prime era in Boulder, and bringing forth worry that last season was the anomaly and Sanders won't be able to find traction without Shedeur and Travis Hunter.
Yahoo Sports' Jack Baer had strong words for the issues at the line of scrimmage.
"Figuring out a life in a post-Travis Hunter, post-Shedeur Sanders world has proven to be a challenge for Deion Sanders," Baer writes. "The initial wave of talent that hit Boulder when Coach Prime came to town masked major structural issues on the roster, most notably at the line of scrimmage where it was shallow at best. Those issues are now starting to become program-defining."
Coach Prime has to improve both lines of scrimmage
Football is still a pretty simple game, despite all the new-age bells and whistles. At the end of most games, the team that can impose its will on the lines of scrimmage is typically the team that is going to win the game.
Too often this year, Colorado has allowed the opposing team to impose its will on them. Through eight games, the Buffs rank 93rd in offensive rushing success rate and 99th in defensive rushing success rate, per Game on Paper.
On paper, things looked to be improved on both lines of scrimmage this year. This is an experienced offensive line anchored by star LT Jordan Seaton, who is going to be a first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. But it hasn't materialized into results on the field.
It's the same up front on defense, with a defensive line littered with experienced players in the two-deep. It's telling that two of the top players are true freshmen, which gives some hope for the future.
Heading into November of year three, that future looks a lot more uncertain for Coach Prime than it did a couple of months ago.