Keyshawn Johnson predicts Colorado will finish 9-3, win Big 12 in Year 2 under Deion Sanders
Colorado had an up-and-down season in Year 1 under Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes got off to a strong start, before losing their final six games.
TV personality and former star wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson expects Colorado to take a big step forward in Year 2 under Deion Sanders, he said Tuesday on Undisputed.
“Just looking at the names of the schools and going off my memory from a year ago, I look at them as a 9-3 team,” Johnson said.
The former USC superstar has Colorado falling to Nebraska on Sept. 7, Utah Nov. 16 and Kansas Nov. 23. However, he expects the Buffaloes to win their other nine games.
“I’ve only got them losing to Nebraska, Utah and Kansas. … And I’ve got them winning the Big 12,” Johnson said.
He insists that he watched almost every snap of Colorado football last season. His takeaway? The Buffaloes are not far away from being really, really good, despite going 4-8 a season ago.
“I watched them play every single snap last year. I might’ve missed 20 snaps in all of their games. They were this close. In every game that they lost they were this close, except one. The Oregon game was the only one I looked at and said, ‘Yea, they’re not going to win that game.’ That was it,” Johnson said.
Johnson is a little off on that breakdown. Colorado suffered a 56-14 loss to Washington State last season in a game that it trailed 42-7 at the half.
However, to be fair to Johnson, outside of Oregon and Washington State, the other six losses were by two scores or less. That includes a seven-point loss to USC, a seven-point loss to Oregon State, a three-point loss to Arizona and a six-point loss to Utah.
Deion Sanders recently said that he has no intentions of leaving and going anywhere else, but Johnson believes that if the Buffaloes have the season he expects them to, Coach Prime could reconsider that stance.
“When he gets there and gets them where they should be, there’s an opportunity and a chance to go elsewhere, whether it’s the NFL or even a bigger college program. But he likes to finish the deal,” Johnson said. “When you start something you want to finish that. And if he changes his mind at the end of the season in college and his kids go to the NFL and some amazing offer comes to the table, I’m not going to hold him to the fire on this. I know a lot of people will… But when your calling is your calling that’s what it is.”