Joel Klatt sees even more room for growth at Colorado after hot start

Sports fans across the country — regardless of what channel they’re watching — have heard plenty about Deion Sanders and Colorado. The Buffaloes have become a national football story just two games into “Coach Prime’s” tenure, with nearly every pregame show in the country making the trip to Boulder for Saturday’s game.

It all started with a victory over TCU in Week 1. The Buffaloes’ offense was firing on all cylinders in that game as they pulled off a massive 45-42 upset. Then, in Week 2, they struggled a bit and still managed to beat rival Nebraska to improve to 2-0 and move up to No. 18 in the AP Top 25.

But, according to FOX Sports analyst and former Buffalo Joel Klatt, Colorado still has plenty of room to get better.

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“Here we are sitting two games into the season and ‘Coach Prime’ has doubled the win total from a year ago,” Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “Not hard, obviously. They were 1-11. I’ve told you countless times how bad Colorado was last year, and it’s still staggering to me. I say these numbers all the time, and it’s still staggering to me because they lost by an average of 29. They were 1-11. They faced seven ranked opponents, lost those games by an average of 36. Their last four, when it’s like, ‘No hope,’ they lost by an average of 41.5.

“Deion Sanders comes in, retools the roster, they’re 2-0 and ranked 18th in the country. They welcome Nebraska in with their heralded new coach, Matt Rhule, and handled them not even playing well. Not even playing well. The mark of a really good team is a team that can win handily when they don’t even come close to playing their best. And that wasn’t even close to what Colorado showed the week before, in particular the offensive side, against TCU. So, at least in my estimation, there’s still room for growth.”

Joel Klatt: Colorado under Deion Sanders is ‘not a gimmick’

Colorado’s 2022 season was nothing short of a disaster under Karl Dorrell and interim Mike Sanford en route to a 1-11 record. But Sanders came in and — Louis luggage in hand — turned things around right away, sending the Buffs up the rankings through games.

It isn’t all perfect for Sean Lewis’ offense, though. Klatt noted Colorado’s struggles in the red zone. Through two games, the Buffaloes have scored touchdowns on six of nine trips to the red zone, including a 3-for-6 showing against Nebraska. If they want to keep pace in the Pac-12, Klatt said that needs to be an area of focus.

“They need to be better in the red zone,” Klatt said. “That, obviously, was an issue for them. They only scored three touchdowns in six red zone trips. That’s not going to cut it. They still don’t have the margin that the top-echelon teams in college football have. So they still need to take care of business when it comes to things like scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Three touchdowns in six red zone trips is not going to cut it.”

Still, it’s easy to say it’s still early and CU is playing over its head. That’s not how Klatt sees it, though. He said the Buffaloes are a legit team, no matter what people might think about the chatter around the program.

“This is a really good team,” Klatt said. “They’re ranked 18th, and they should be. This is not a gimmick. Those of you waiting for this to crash and the slipper to not fit or whatever you want to call it, right? The Cinderella story? This is not going away because Colorado is a very good team. The evidence is you play that poorly and win going away against Nebraska.

“Colorado was held without a point in their first four drives, alright? Didn’t score until the 4:20 mark of the second quarter, and then they end up scoring 36 points. That’s pretty explosive after that. Think of what they did after those first four drives. They end up scoring, and then — if you eliminate mop-up duty, right? The starters played about those last eight series. … What did they do? Oh, they just scored seven of eight times.”