JD PicKell predicts Colorado will finish 6-6 in Year 2 under Deion Sanders

Head coach Deion Sanders is back for year two leading the Colorado Buffaloes. It’s a season where he’ll look to build on 2023 and try to get the Buffaloes to a bowl game.

Ahead of the season, On3’s JD PicKell predicted on The Hard Count that Colorado is going to find a way to improve and will finish 6-6 in Sanders’ second season at Colorado.

“So, the preseason win total in Vegas, the over-under, is set at 5.5 wins for Colorado,” PicKell said. “I would be very careful for us to not buy into the extremes of the narratives out there around Colorado.”

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“Because while I’m all for extremes. I’m all for things being the greatest of all time or the worst of all time like I always think that’s a fun talking point to pick apart. It’s very rarely the case. The extremes you hear with Colorado are they’re gonna make the College Football Playoff, they’re gonna win the Big 12. The other extremes you hear is Deion Sanders is gonna win two football games. I have a hard time buying too far into either of those for us right now as we sit here in July.”

Deion Sanders inherited a 1-11 team that he brought to 4-8 in his first season there. That was done in large part by flipping the roster through the Transfer Portal. As a result, there’s plenty of talent in Boulder.

“When you look at what they have in-house, I think it’s solid. I think it’s solid. Maybe it’s not the best roster in college football, but I don’t think it’s nearly as poor as some folks would like to lead you to believe. Look at the quarterback position, you have what really should be, in my opinion, a first round pick in Shedeur Sanders. You have a wide receiver room that’s good for anybody. Like, not just that’s good for Colorado, a team that won one game two years ago. That’s good period, from LaJohntay Wester to Travis Hunter, who might be pound for pound the best player in college football…there’s a lot there from a talent perspective. Dallan Hayden from Ohio State, I think, was a big get through the Transfer Portal,” PicKell said.

“But the thing with Colorado that’s a little bit tricky to square is just the unknowable, and when I say, ‘the unknowable’ we don’t know how the 40 plus transfers are going to factor in and translate and acclimate to what Colorado wants to do in 2024. So, some of assessing Colorado from a record point of view when you try to break down what their wins and losses will be, is really what does your gut tell you?”

Because of the attention that Colorado has received, there’s been some loud opinions about the Buffaloes. However, PicKell believes those strong opinions are probably too strong and it’s better to trust his gut that Colorado will show moderate improvement.

“I’m a firm believer in this. Your gut is, usually, gonna be pretty on the money,” PicKell said. “When you look at Colorado, I think my gut tells me that there is a very low percentage chance that they were as bad as they were last year on the line of scrimmage, and that’s really the whole hinge point for this entire take on Colorado. Like, if you think they’re gonna be great, you think that offensive line has improved quite a bit. If you think they’re gonna be trash, then you probably think they’re gonna let up 40 to 50 plus sacks again in 2024. I think that’s a bit of a stretch.”

The problem for Colorado going into 2024 is that taking a large step forward is difficult because of how many issues the Buffaloes had on both sides of the ball. So, getting them all fixed at once is a challenge.

“Now, defensively, they also have to step it up quite a bit. Like, they allowed five yards per carry last year. The good news if you’re a Colorado fan, can’t get a whole lot worse on the line of scrimmage and you went 4-8 and were in a position to win a few other games against some really good football teams, Utah and Arizona being a couple of those last season.”

Colorado finished the 2023 season giving up 34.8 points per game. That was good for 124th out of 133 FBS schools in scoring defense. Pairing that with 4.67 sacks allowed per game, which was 132nd in the country, and Deion Sanders has plenty to fix.

Looking at Colorado’s schedule, PicKell noted that to get bowl eligible and win more than 5.5 games would start with winning early because the back half of the schedule isn’t forgiving.

“Let’s take a look at the schedule here. I need Colorado to be 4-1 heading into October if we want to talk about hitting the over on this 5.5-win total. North Dakota State to start the year was not a layup by any stretch of the imagination. At Nebraska. At Colorado State, which was a dog fight last year. Then you’ve got Baylor and you’re at UCF. I think Colorado is good enough to win all of those football games. Will they do that? Remains to be seen because they’re gonna get tested game two at Nebraska with how much physicality they have up front,” PicKell said.

“Now, the rest of the season, that’s the big question. Can you line it up in the trenches with those big boys in your conference. I’m talking about Kansas State. Talking about Utah. Talking about Oklahoma State. Are you good enough when it comes to the big human beings to be able to win in different ways?”

With all of that in mind, JD PicKell believes that Colorado is capable of going over 5.5 wins to make it to a bowl game at 6-6.

“So, when it comes to our prediction and how we feel about Colorado? We’ve said this many times about Deion Sanders, expectations dictate happiness. If you expect Colorado to go to the College Football Playoff, more power to you…maybe that’s an expectation that’s a little bit lofty. I think we talk about success and progress for Colorado, I think it looks like a bowl game. I really do. So when I talk about what they’re gonna be in 2024, that’s the context I asses them with. So, I think for Colorado in 2024 they will start with a record of 6-6. They can absolutely finish higher than that if they’re able to have better trench play,” PicKell said.

“At the same time, they can absolutely finish 4-8 again if they’re not able to be multiple offensive and the defense kind of stays where they were a season ago. A lot of pieces at Colorado but let’s let it bake a little bit. Let’s let it progress a little bit.”

For Deion Sanders and Colorado, the 2024 season is about taking a step forward. That starts with an August 29th home game against North Dakota State.