Deion Sanders explains why wins do not dictate success for Colorado in 2024

Colorado‘s three straight victories to begin the 2023 college football season skyrocketed the Buffaloes into the national spotlight and slotted them into the AP Poll.

While the rest of the season didn’t go in the Buffs’ favor, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders wants his group to be able to recapture the magic that his team enjoyed during that stretch in 2024. However, Coach Prime realizes that the national perspective of his team will always be that they could have done better.

“Football-wise? No, no, because we’re always measured differently,” Sanders explained in an exclusive interview with Pete Thamel at ESPN Big 12 Media Days. .”We would never fulfill your thought process. Just say, for instance, we go to a bowl. ‘They should have won more games. They should have been in that bowl, but they gave away that lead.’ You know, it’s always going to be something. We know what success means to us. We’ll keep that in-house.”

However, that isn’t to say that Sanders doesn’t want to lead his team to victory each Saturday this fall.

“Who doesn’t plan on winning?” Sanders asked. “Is there any coach that came here that doesn’t plan on winning? Like, you said it like it was a news flash, right? You’re darn right I plan on winning.”

FanDuel Sportsbook slotted Colorado’s win total odds at 4.5 wins heading into the 2024 season.

Led by Sanders’ son, Shedeur on offense along with two-way star Travis Hunter are expected to be one of the most exciting duos in college football this season.

However, questions across the roster remain after the Buffaloes lost many players to the NCAA transfer portal this offseason, not to mention bringing in just as many through the same means. The immense roster turnover — made up of 85 players either coming in or out of the program via the portal — makes it tough to gauge how this team will perform, but their schedule speaks for itself.

The Buffs will begin the 2024 college football season against North Dakota State on Thursday, Aug. 29. Non-conference matchups against Nebraska and Colorado State will follow before beginning Big 12 Conference play in Week 4 against Baylor. They will also feature matchups against Arizona, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State, among others throughout their first season back in their old conference.

FanDuel Sportsbook has released odds for three games of Colorado’s season, including the first two matchups against NDSU and Nebraska. The Buffs are 8.5-point betting favorites against their FCS foe, while Nebraska comes in as a touchdown favorite at home against Colorado. Nov. 16th’s matchup against Utah sees the Buffs come in a 7.5-point underdogs as well.