Colorado is always going to be in some conversation during this tenure under Deion Sanders. However, that could include being in one about contention in their new conference this year – at least in the opinion of Joel Klatt.
Klatt selected the Buffaloes as one of his bounce back teams in a recent mailbag episode of his show. He began by prefacing that Colorado didn’t necessarily underachieve on their overall goals in 2023. They just didn’t live up to what came upon them after their 3-0 start.
“Colorado was 4-8 last season. While I don’t think it was necessarily underperformed, I believe that, based on the way that the season started, it fell below expectations once the expectations were ratcheted up to a million in the first couple of weeks of that season under Deion Sanders,” said Klatt.
Following that start, Colorado would close at 1-8 over their final nine. That led to plenty of debate considering four wins is far better than the one in the year prior. Yet it still disappointed in a way after their early wins over TCU, Nebraska, and Colorado State.
However, Klatt thinks that drop off in conference play isn’t going to be nearly as steep this year. While the Big 12 is deep in its own right, he doesn’t see it as the same as what it was for them last year in the Pac-12.
“Their schedule is going to be vastly, vastly easier than it was a year ago when the Pac-12 was loaded with all those great quarterbacks,” said Klatt.
Klatt’s one question for Colorado, as it is for many, is their play on the lines, specifically offensively. If that unit can be a tad better, he doesn’t see why they couldn’t be in the Big 12 Championship. In turn, that would then put them in position to play for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
“They bulked up on both lines of scrimmage. My contention would be that Shedeur Sanders is good enough at the quarterback position. Their skill positions players are good enough on the outside,” Klatt said. “If you protect Shedeur, even just a bit better, they’re going to win not just four but six, seven, eight, maybe nine games and potentially competing for that spot in the Big 12 title game.”
A lot will need to happen for Colorado to be in this sort of contention. Besides a six-game schedule in 2020, they haven’t even made a bowl game since 2017.
Still, Klatt believes that kind of leap, so long as there’s better play from the offensive line, might be on the table for his alma mater.
“I think CU could be a lot better this year. I do,” said Klatt.
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