Much has changed for Colorado, and not for the better, in Deion Sanders’ third season as head coach.
Sanders helped guide a remarkable turnaround for the Buffaloes in 2024 as the team upped its win total from four in the previous year to nine despite a somewhat sour ending with two losses in the final three games.
With three games remaining in 2025, CU comes to Morgantown for Saturday’s noon matchup against West Virginia with an identical 3-6 record to the Mountaineers. More alarming, the Buffaloes have lost five of six within the Big 12, including two straight against Utah and Arizona by a combined total of 105-24.
Whereas the Mountaineers have trended in the right direction their last two games following an 0-4 start in league play that did not include a competitive setback, positives have been few and far between for Colorado since defeating Iowa State on October 11 for the lone league triumph.
“We have the best fan base in college football — supportive, loving, caring. They deserve so much more than what we’re giving them right now,” Sanders said. “I don’t want to be an apologetic type of guy, but we’re not playing good football. They deserve the hope that we gave them over the last couple seasons. We’re underachieving for them and my heart goes out to them. Stay supportive and stay in love with the team, because we’re trending in the right direction behind the curtains. But I appreciate the heck out of our fan base.”
Better known as Coach Prime, Sanders has battled health issues throughout the season and recently cutoff media access to players.
“I have a fatherly spirit and I have an overseer spirit,” he said. “I’m trying to shield my guys from certain guys that may harm them. I know the temperature of the room and if certain guys can or can’t handle this at certain times. My job is to protect them and put an umbrella around them until I feel like they’re ready for the attacks, assaults and the social media gamut they’re dealing with right now. That’s just me being a protector, father and guardian, which we all called coach back in the day.”
The lack of competitiveness in the last two games was hardly predictable based on the first seven.
Colorado opened with a seven-point loss to Georgia Tech and comfortably defeated Delaware and Wyoming in its other non-conference games.
A 16-point loss at Houston in the Big 12 opener was the team’s most lopsided until October 25 when the Buffaloes were manhandled at Utah, 52-7. Otherwise, CU lost by three to BYU and 14 at TCU in a matchup that was tied with inside 6 minutes left.
A seven-point home win over the Cyclones came the week following the setback to the Horned Frogs.
The Buffaloes most glaring deficiency has been an inability to stop the run, with their average of 215.8 rushing yards allowed nearly 40 yards back of next-to-last in the Big 12 and ahead of only Georgia Southern and Eastern Michigan among FBS programs.
“The way they’re performing is on us, it’s not on them,” Sanders said. “We have to do a better job of putting them in the right situations to make the plays they need to make and they have to give a little more effort in certain areas.”
Colorado will start true freshman quarterback Julian Lewis in Morgantown — the first career start for a five-start recruit who enrolled at CU last winter after announcing his commitment on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Lewis saw his most extensive action last Saturday in a 52-17 loss to Arizona when he completed 9-of-17 passes for 121 yards with his first career touchdown. For the season, Lewis is 11-for-21 with 129 yards.
“He’s throwing the heck out of the ball. He’s a young kid and he’s going to make young-kid mistakes, but it’s up to the staff to get him prepared and ready so he can be concise and precise,” Sanders said. “He has to make quick reads, get the ball out, run when he feels pressure and just be himself. Just do what you’ve been doing your whole life.”
Looking to build on last Saturday’s 45-35 win at then-No. 22 Houston, West Virginia wants to show it can handle its first taste of success in seven weeks and string together consecutive wins for the first time this season — something Colorado also hasn’t done.
But WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez remains wary of the Buffaloes’ capabilities and is taking the approach that his team will oppose the one that showed more traits from its first seven games than of late.
“They’ve really upgraded their talent level and when you lose a couple games, you maybe lose a little confidence,” Rodriguez said, “but I’m sure their coaches are getting them right for this week.”