Predicting how Colorado's first season under Deion Sanders will go

The Colorado Buffaloes will not be bowl eligible this season, according to On3’s JD PicKell.

PicKell has picked Deion Sanders’ squad to go 4-8 in 2023. The voice of On3 has the Buffaloes losing four of their first five games but is expected to finish the final seven games of the season with a decent 3-4 record.

The lack of bowl expectations on PicKell’s part isn’t his fault — the Buffaloes can blame their schedule for that. Colorado will play three non-conference games to begin their 2023 slate that includes reigning national runner-up TCU, the Matt Rhule-led Nebraska Cornhuskers and then in-state rival Colorado State.

Follow that up with arguably the top two teams in the Pac-12 in Oregon (away) and USC (home) — and Colorado has found itself 1-4 to begin the season.

The meat of the Pac-12 schedule is where in Buffaloes can steal some conference victories. PicKell believes Colorado can topple Arizona State and Stanford in consecutive weeks, and gives them a victory at home against Arizona. Other than that — Colorado isn’t going to win, according to PicKell.

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Erasing the TCU and Nebraska games from the schedule and replacing them with easier matchups would have been the difference between Colorado making a postseason run and packing up their lockers in December.

If you ask Coach Prime, he’d tell you the exact opposite.

“I don’t know,” Sanders said. “I can’t give you that. If I give you that, it’s going to go viral. You gotta understand, when I talk, it’s going viral. We’re going to exceed your expectations. We’re going to exceed your expectations. And I guarantee you, when you play us, you’re going to know you played against us. You’re going to know that. 

“You’re going to feel it, you’re going to feel it. I can not wait till you see. Everybody makes a big deal of what’s not here, but you need to make a big deal of what’s coming. Because what’s coming is far greater than what’s gone.”

Whether you agree with PicKell or Sanders, one thing is for sure — the tides are shifting in Boulder, Colorado. Sanders has put already together a squad in a way college football has never seen before, so why couldn’t they shock the world?

Sanders’ debut as Colorado’s coach is set for Sept. 2 on the road at TCU. It’ll be one of the toughest matchups his group will face all season, and is a very gutsy way to start his Power 5 coaching career.