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Is it time to press the panic button in Boulder?
Saturday night in Lincoln was tough. The Buffs arrived at Memorial Stadium and didn’t even put up a fight, struggling wire-to-wire in a blowout loss to Nebraska. Colorado’s offense floundered, showcasing an inability to establish any semblance of a rushing attack. Shedeur Sanders had his worst collegiate showing and Shilo Sanders suffered an injury that required surgery, meaning he will likely miss significant time.
The Buffs’ struggles on the field didn’t stop on the field either, as they managed to find their way into the media space. CU has been one of the most popular teams in the entire country, for better or worse. Thousands tune in to watch Deion and the Buffs each week to see if he can build a program and Boulder, while just as many people watch to witness the potential downfall of the Buffaloes. The latter got their way this week.
The college football world saw their opportunity to dogpile on Colorado and they took it. Snippets from Deion and Shedeur’s postgame pressers went viral, showcasing them taking some not-so-subtle jabs at the offensive line’s performance. An article alleging Deion has barred the band from playing CU’s fight song after touchdowns so they can pump Shedeur’s rap song over the speakers went viral on Monday, which has since been proven false and refuted by the university.
All this to say, things seemingly look bleak in Boulder. Deion Sanders, who was previously revered as the savior of Colorado football, is taking some serious heat after that loss to Nebraska. The Buffs didn’t look like the brand-new team that we were promised ahead of the 2024 season. Is it time to press the panic button in Boulder?
Truthfully, I’m not sure. It’s only Week 2 and we are reacting to one loss. Granted, this was a bad loss to our biggest rival, but we need to contextualize things. Nebraska’s defense is very, very good. It’s probably the best front seven that the Buffs will play all season, so it's not a shocker that they wreaked havoc all night. Nebraska could feasibly go 7-0 to start their season and be in the mix for a playoff bid. Memorial Stadium was a zoo, full of hostile Husker fans who hadn’t seen their team beat their rival since 2010. Deion hasn’t seen an environment even remotely close to that since taking the head coaching job in Boulder.
The cards were stacked heavily against the Buffs last Saturday, but that doesn’t excuse what we saw on the football field. Colorado’s offense looked horrendous, gaining only 16 rushing yards on 22 attempts. Legitimately no effort was made to establish a ground game in Lincoln. The offensive line flashed back to 2023, allowing six sacks on Shedeur and 10 tackles for loss. The Buffs failed to convert on fourth and one twice, running inside zone both times. Simply put, Colorado’s offensive performance was inexcusable and coaching played a large part in that.
This is not what we were promised ahead of this season. Deion and his staff led fans to believe that this team improved tenfold in the trenches, both offensively and defensively. The players Colorado went out and got from the portal were highly sought after. They didn’t end up in Boulder because they had no other options. Things just aren’t adding up.
Perhaps we should be worried about this team. Perhaps the Buffs haven’t taken that step forward like we were led to believe. Perhaps we are in for another disastrous 4-8 season for Colorado football. Perhaps people are overreacting to an emotional loss to our most hated rival.
People’s worries about the future of this team seem to be warranted. If the offensive line doesn’t improve and we can’t establish any sort of a run game, the Buffs will be bad this season. We’re seeing the same exact problems from 2023 peep their ugly head out, which isn’t a good omen. Our Big 12 schedule slate isn’t going to get any easier.
We are about to see what this team is made of in Fort Collins. Colorado’s Week 3 matchup with the Colorado State Rams will dictate the tone for the rest of 2024. If Deion, Shedeur, and company head into Canvas Stadium and light up the Rams to win by 20+ points, we can chalk up that Nebraska loss to a bad night. If the Buffs barely squeak by against CSU or even lose, some serious conversations about the future of Colorado’s football program are probably warranted.
This program is better off than how it was when Deion Sanders inherited it and there’s no denying it. The national spotlight has been on Boulder and the money’s been flowing in a way we previously thought impossible. Coach Prime has saved Colorado football from the depths of hell (irrelevance) and he deserves all his flowers.
That being said, the spotlight brought by Deion hasn’t come without a cost. We have willingly signed up to become college football’s biggest science experiment. Can a college football team be built entirely by the transfer portal, with little priority for recruiting out of high school? Can you perpetually Frankenstein a roster and its weaknesses via the transfer portal?
So far, the answer has been unequivocally no. Colorado’s quick-fix patches to their offensive and defensive lines aren’t proving fruitful, as the Buffs have struggled in the trenches since Deion’s arrival. Establishing a culture in Boulder isn’t easy when your roster is essentially getting sent through a revolving door, spitting out and bringing in new key players each time the portal opens.
Here’s the good news though, this experiment is far from over. The Buffs have other ten games to right the ship and prove to the world that they’re a formidable foe, not just college football’s biggest guinea pig. These concerns could just be a monumental overreaction.
Everything hinges on this Colorado State game. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s probably the most important game this program has played in quite some time. Our concerns will be assured or they’ll be bubbling over in just five short days. Go and embarrass little brother to the north and all this talk is for nothing. If that doesn’t happen, the heat’s only going to intensify. We’re about to find out if this team has what it takes.
by RylandScholes
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