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Where will the Buffs play this bowl season?

The Buffs are going bowling! We know that many Colorado fans are excited and eager to attend Colorado’s first postseason game since 2020, but one major question still remains. What bowl will Colorado play in and where?

We’re here to answer that question for you!

Back to the Pac-12 (kinda)

The first and most important thing to know about this year’s bowl season is that Pac-12 bowl tie-ins still apply, even for all the schools who jumped shipped after the conference disbanded. The Pac-12 and its schools signed a contract for bowl tie-ins that runs through 2025, meaning the Buffs have to play in Pac-12 bowls for one more season. There will be no Big 12 tie-in bowl for the Buffs this season, so that means that there’s a possibility of CU playing their conference-mates in a bowl game this winter.

What are the Pac-12 tie-in bowls this season? We’ve got you covered:

LA Bowl

Played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, home of the Rams and Chargers, one former (or maybe current) Pac-12 school will face off against a Mountain West school on December 18th.

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Las Vegas Bowl

The Buffs could face off against a Big 10 squad at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas on December 27th.

Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images

Holiday Bowl

A Pac-12 school and ACC school will play at San Diego State’s brand-new Snapdragon Stadium on a date TBD.

Photo by Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Sun Bowl

The Sun Bowl, played at the stadium of the same name in El Paso, Texas, is tied as the second-old bowl game in all of college football. A Pac-12 school will face off against an ACC school (or Notre Dame) on New Year’s Eve.

Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images

Alamo Bowl

No comment. Too many flashbacks and none of them are good...

(Pac-12 school plays a Big 12 school in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome on December 28)

Photo by CJ Halloran/UFL/Getty Images

Independence Bowl

Played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, a Pac-12 school will face off against a Big 12 school on December 28.

Gonna go out on a limb that the Buffs are too big of a pull to play in this one...

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

No Rose Bowl...

The Rose Bowl is now part of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoffs, so the Buffs won’t be playing in Pasadena unless they make the cut...

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

The great beyond

Colorado could play in a New Year’s Six bowl, but they’d need to make the college football playoffs to do that. Their only chance for that to happen at this point would be if they won the Big 12, as the conference’s winner gets an automatic bid to play in an NY6 bowl/playoff game combo.

With two losses on the year in a weak conference, it’s extremely unlikely that the Buffs will make the playoffs with an at-large bid, even if they go 10-2. They’ll need to win their conference to make the dance, which isn’t out of the picture.

by RylandScholes
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Travis Hunter Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week /Isaiah Augustave Big 12 Newcomer of the Week ... CU/Texas Tech kickoff time on six-day hold ... Neill Woelk's Takeaways from Cincinnati game ...

Stuart
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Coach Prime saved CU football and there’s no denying it.

For the first time since 2020 and only the third time since 2020, the Colorado Buffaloes are going bowling. After a thorough 34-23 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bearcats, where Colorado controlled nearly the entire game, the Buffs move to 6-2 on the season.

Deion Sanders has officially taken Colorado football from the depths of irrelevance to having a seat with the big dogs in the college football world.

This moment is something special. Nobody outside the Colorado fanbase will ever understand what this means to us. CU fans have endured so much over the last 4 years, and now the Buffs are back to national prominence for their on-field success.

Let’s do a little storytime, just to put things into perspective for some of our newer Colorado fans. It’s imperative to understand just how far this program has come. When starting this story, most like to start with the 1-11 season in 2022. To do the story proper justice, we need to go back to even before that.

Let’s flashback to the spring and summer of 2022. Colorado football was digging itself into a perpetual pit of hell. The Buffs were fresh off a 4-8 season following their demolition by Texas in the Alamo Bowl 2020. CU didn’t win a single road game in all of 2021 and underwhelmed for the entire season.

Seeing the writing on the wall of the program’s direction under Karl Dorrell, every worthwhile player on CU’s roster jumped ship. Christian Gonzalez, Jarek Broussard, Brenden Rice and Mekhi Blackmon all found homes far away from Boulder. This was the beginning of the end. Nobody wanted to play for Dorrell, the program was in disarray, and the future of Colorado football seemed bleak.

We all know what happened next. The Buffs went 1-11, got blown out in nearly every single game and Dorrell got fired after Week 5. CU was the worst team in the FBS by a country mile. Nobody would want to take this job, right?

Wrong. We got a bright light at the end of the tunnel. By some miracle, Rick George managed to bring in NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders to coach the Buffaloes.

Right off the bat, it was evident that Deion was something special. When other candidates saw a program in shambles and didn’t want to touch the CU with a 10-foot poll, Deion saw an opportunity to rebuild this program.

The rest has been history. Deion brought in his kids, rebuilt this program from the ground up, and proved all the naysayers wrong. The Buffs have reached a point we haven’t seen since 2016 and most haters thought impossible. They’re bowl-eligible, but their work isn’t done yet.

“It’s cute,” said Deion Sanders when asked about his team reaching bowl eligibility. “It really is because we really want that, but that’s not all we’re after. That one of the hurdles we’re jumping over, we’re going over. That’s a tremendous hurdle and we’re happy and excited, but that’s not the end goal for us.”

With a 4-1 record in conference play, Colorado’s next goal is making it to the Big 12 title game in Dallas. They’d need some help to get there, but it’s not out of the picture by any means. If Colorado was to win the Big 12, they’d earn themselves an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff and the opportunity to play in a New Years Six bowl. The Buffs aren’t letting that phase them though, as they’re taking things step by step.

“We ain’t thinking about the playoffs right now,” said Sanders. “We go one game at a time. We don’t even wanna be ranked. Don’t rank us, please.”

Unfortunately for Deion, Colorado’s heroics over the Bearcats earned them a spot on the AP Poll. The now 23rd-ranked Buffaloes have finally got some recognition for their success this year, but that doesn’t matter to those in the building.

“We’d rather be in the back, in the dark, just chilling in the cut,” said Sanders. “We’re chill, we’re cool, we’re straight, alright? Don't feel pressure to rank us. We’re good.”

Other than team accolades, Colorado’s players are building some impressive individual ones as well. Travis Hunter has been having a once-in-a-lifetime season for the Buffs, but we can’t leave out Shedeur Sanders from the Heisman conversation either. Sanders set a school record against Cincinnati, completing 15 consecutive pass attempts to open the game. Sanders finished the game with 323 yards through the air, went 25 for 30 passing, and had three total touchdowns.

While Shedeur knows he should be in this season’s Heisman race, but he’s been happy to resign to Hunter all season. Deion said in his presser that everyone in Colorado’s building knows that Hunter is the best college football player in the country, so it’s his award to win.

“They’re not gonna give it to two players on the same team, me and Trav,” said Shedeur his postgame presser. “It is what it is. I don’t really look too deep into that. I just want Travis to win, of course. A that would be almost like I won, because I threw him the ball.”

Accolades aside, the Buffs are rolling. They’ll rest this week on a bye and be back in action in two weeks for a game with Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Nobody deserves this more than we do, Buffs fans. Especially the ones who’ve been here before the Prime era. Enjoy this week, we’ve earned the right to have a little fun.

by RylandScholes
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A look at what went right in this big-time Buffaloes victory

On Saturday, Colorado took on a new Big 12 opponent in the Cincinnati Bearcats. This was a must-win game for Colorado to keep their hopes of competing for a Big 12 championship alive. Not only did they secure the victory, but the Buffaloes also reached six wins on the season, clinching bowl eligibility. This monumental win catapulted the Buffs into the Top 25 rankings just ahead of their bye week. Today, we’re breaking down what’s working for the Buffs and what they’ll need to keep doing down the stretch to have a shot at a conference championship appearance.

What Went Right for the Buffs:​

It’s hard to know where to start after a game where Colorado seemed to be doing everything right. For me, the most notable improvement was the run game. We all know how effective this Colorado passing attack can be, but Shedeur Sanders has publicly emphasized the importance of getting the run game going first. Early on, it became clear that Colorado saw their matchup in the trenches as a favorable one, and they leaned on the ground game right from the start. Leading the charge was Isaiah Augustave, who had 91 yards and extended his touchdown streak to three straight games.

The Run Game:​

Isaiah Augustave might not always be recognized as Colorado’s top back, but he brings a unique skill set that’s been crucial to the Buffs’ success. Augustave is versatile, making him the go-to choice when the Buffs need consistency at the position. While he can find yards with both speed and power, his biggest strength is his ability to make jump cuts in and out of holes while keeping his legs driving until the whistle. Augustave kept his legs moving on key downs, often getting an extra push from his linemen to keep drives alive and control time of possession. The running backs performed well overall, reflected in the stats with over 100 yards on the day, but they weren’t the only reason for the success in the ground game.

Colorado’s offensive line also appears to be improving week by week. In the postgame press conference, offensive lineman Justin Mayers cited personnel continuity as the key to their progress. The film backs this up: this line’s communication and understanding of assignments have improved tremendously as the season has gone on. The last few weeks, we’ve seen fewer blown assignments in pass protection and fewer runs stopped in the backfield. Play after play, Colorado’s linemen are getting off the ball, driving defenders back, and making sure to establish this team’s presence in the trenches. A standout example came on Khalil Benson’s lead blocks into the secondary on Augustave’s huge second-half touchdown run. Benson managed to set blocks on both the linebacker and safety, creating just enough room for a big Colorado rushing score.

The Star Players:​

It should come as no surprise to Buffaloes fans who the impact playmakers were in this game. Shedeur finished with over 300 yards and three total touchdowns, while Travis Hunter racked up 150 yards and two touchdowns on offense, alongside a lockdown performance on defense with four pass breakups. These two guys are a testament to why teams should be wary of matching up against Colorado. With improved play in the trenches, paired with the nation’s top two-way player and arguably the best quarterback in college football, the Buffs have a dangerous combination that no coaching staff will look forward to facing down the stretch.

At this point, both Shedeur and Travis could make legitimate claims to the Heisman, and with the rest of the team rallying around them, the sky’s the limit. While they may be deserving of individual accolades, these players are laser-focused on one goal: winning out. If Colorado can finish strong, not only will they have a real shot at a Heisman candidate or two, but they could also position themselves for a conference championship and, ultimately, the College Football Playoff.

Outlook for the Buffs:​

With Colorado now ranked #23 in the nation, the focus has understandably shifted to making a run at the Big 12 championship. If the Buffaloes win out and get some help from other teams, an 8-1 conference record could give them a real chance at the title.

Coach Deion Sanders is looking forward to the upcoming bye week, stating that the players have earned a break to get fully healthy and recover from nagging injuries. Look for the Buffaloes to be ready for a tough road matchup against Texas Tech after the bye, and don’t forget to root against other Big 12 contenders like BYU, Iowa State, and Kansas State as Colorado’s push for a Big 12 championship continues.

by Jacob.Thompson
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No one deserves this like us.

Your Colorado Buffaloes are ranked for the first time in 13 months! In the week ten edition of the AP Poll, the Buffs are ranked as the 23rd-best team in the nation.

It only took them nine full weeks, but AP voters are finally recognizing the 6-2 Colorado Buffaloes as one of the best teams in the country. After a thorough 34-23 beating of the Cincinnati Bearcats Saturday night, the Buffs managed to sneak their way into the AP Poll.

Colorado's addition to the poll didn’t come without a little bit of help though. Four teams who were ranked between 21-25 lost, being Vanderbilt, Navy, Mizzou, and Illinois, lost on Saturday. That gave the Buffs the push they needed to squeak into the top 25.

Colorado hasn’t been ranked since week four of the 2023 season, where they were ranked #19 ahead of getting demolished by Oregon in Eugene. The Buffs also haven’t been ranked this late into the season since The Rise in 2016, where they went on a magical run to win the Pac-12 South.

The Buffs are on a bye week too, so expect that ranking to go even higher after this weekend, even though CU doesn’t play. Enjoy this moment, Buffs fans. We’ve come a long way from 1-11. Nobody deserves this more than us.

by RylandScholes
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