SAN ANTONIO – “Expectation” may not be a word often stressed by the head coach of a program emerging from a seventh consecutive season in which the win total had not eclipsed four. Still, Deion Sanders did so before the 2024 season.
At that point, everything for the Colorado Buffaloes was still in motion. It was a slowly moving train teetering on tracks held together by bombastic promises and glimpses of game-breaking talent, yet a constantly revolving door of defeat. Despite it all, 2024 became the antithesis of Sanders’s principle: unexpected.
The standard is clear now, even after a demoralizing 36-14 loss to the Brigham Young Cougars in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Saturday. To read too deep into the campaign’s conclusion would be reasonable but vastly shortsighted.
BYU outclassed the Buffs in short order. NFL-ready quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter were not on the same page from the opening drive on. The Cougars ran the ball at will. Even pregame, when Ralphie VI trotted out in a final “run” that brought winces to CU fans’ faces, it was obvious that something was off.
The Cougars smelled blood and spoiled the final collegiate game Sanders coached his two sons, Shedeur and Shilo. Twenty-seven unanswered points with trick plays galore, a recovered onside kick, and domination in the trenches kept any CU efforts in high-leverage situations at bay. And if not for a few miscues, it could have been much worse.
While many of Saturday’s wrongs could be attributed to BYU simply being CU’s strongest opponent faced all season, self-inflicted wounds reared their ugly head.
Down 10-0 early in the second quarter, Shedeur found Hunter for a 58-yard gain and had a 1st and five inside the Cougars’ 10-yard line, but the signal-caller lost 23 yards on a sack that dragged Colorado back to the 30. Alejandro Mata missed the ensuing field goal.
Later in the first half, junior defensive tackle Anquin Barnes Jr. snagged a tipped shovel pass for the defense’s second interception of the first half. The Buffs promptly went three and out, and Mark Vassett’s punt was returned 64 yards for a touchdown.
Massive body blows were dealt that the black and gold could not rally from. Resilience was a key quality that guided Colorado through slow starts against the Colorado State Rams, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Baylor Bears this season, but a cocktail of abysmal offensive execution (season-low 210 total yards) and a turnover-reliant defense buried any hopes of attaining the program’s first bowl game win since 2004.
In those two decades, the Buffs roamed Boulder with sparse success that mumbled along without much motivation, a shrug of hope rather than a roar. Every season ended with a whimper, and while 2024 was no exception, it may have proved more than any of the previous 19.
CU finished the season 9-4, 7-2 in its inaugural season back in Big 12, with the program’s first Heisman winner in 30 years and a top-flight quarterback soon to be selected with a first-round NFL Draft pick.
“We don’t know what that means, the legacy,” Sanders said of Colorado's impact on college football’s greater landscape. “We’re just trying to develop these young men, win games, make sure they’re consistent men in the community with their relationships, with their families, and in school … We’re thankful that we play a role in [the impact], but that does not enter our mindset.”
Building a cohesive staff behind him was one of Sanders’s greatest accomplishments since his hiring. Robert Livingston’s defense quelled many of its woes, such as the pass rush (most sacks since 1995) and run defense. A core of Vincent Dancy, Damione Lewis, and Warren Sapp aided the defensive effort as well. Phil Loadholdt coached up a pair of Freshman All-Americans, Jordan Seaton and Cash Cleveland, along a steadily improved offensive line.
When those hires were made, CU was amid an incredibly messy offseason. Division within the fanbase, the media, and the college football world loomed large, mostly around Sanders and his familial enclave. While by no means was it perfect, the Buffaloes put their heads down at the right time and orchestrated a memorable turnaround that placed them No. 23 in the campaign’s final CFP rankings.
Those notes are not without meaning, even while lacking much fulfillment on a team postseason scale. For the most outstanding player in the nation to represent a winner under the Folsom Field lights and put on a season essentially unprecedented in the 155-year history of college football, even if just for a moment, would certainly indicate positive momentum from within.
While yes, Saturday was as poor a sendoff for the dynamic brotherhood of Sanders and Hunter as could have occurred, the sendoff’s existence speaks volumes about what the Buffaloes and teams like it are capable of in the current age of the sport. Coach Prime drew eyeballs and sold out stadiums in year one, then he lined the foundations of a winner at both individual and collective levels in year two.
And sure, plenty of cogs will now be gone from the machine that went on a midseason run into the Big 12 Championship mix, thereby the College Football Playoff conversation until the regular season’s end, but that is the nature of college athletics.
CU’s crystallizing future was in the building, as 10 early enrollees who practiced the team over the past week joined its ventures into the Alamodome. Consistent winners aren’t born, they’re made, and while what Sanders is making is a far cry from how the Alabamas and Georgias of the world have done it, it gives Colorado more of a shot than it has had in recent memory.
“We’ve established expectation,” Sanders noted. “So now, you expect us to perform a certain way, you expect us to win, you expect us to be exciting, you expect us to be a lot more disciplined than we displayed today.”
At its core, Colorado in 2024 was a beautiful mess – a team constantly stumbling over itself into miracles like LaJohntay Wester’s Hail Mary catch against Baylor and its demolitions such as Saturday’s. When they lost, they were embarrassed. When they won in any capacity, though, they captured the spirit of the Flatirons they played in the shadow of. They infatuated those who came to watch. Bound by blood, a 100-year-old superfan in Peggy Coppum desperate for something to cheer on, and a refrain of "I believe" etched into souls, they inspired.
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