Is it time for Colorado to hit the panic button?
Football is looking dire in Boulder, Colorado.
Since head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders was hired to lead the Colorado Buffaloes in 2022, things have been rocky to say the least.
He boasted an 18-22 record in black and gold and sent four players to the NFL in his tenure. He helped take the Buffs to their first bowl game since 2016, outside the Covid-shortened season. He helped bring a Heisman Trophy winner to Boulder for the first time since 1996 and is one of the most polarizing figures in college sports. He’s 9-19 outside the nine win season that helped the Buffs make the Alamo Bowl, and is 2-8 against ranked teams while having started four different quarterbacks with a fifth expected this week.
After a 2-2 start to the 2026 campaign, is it time for the Buffs to hit the panic button?
Colorado’s offense has looked anemic through four weeks, generating a conference-low 21.5 points per game. That mark extends beyond the Big 12 nationally, where the mark is the 114th best out of 138 teams.
A large part of their struggles have come in the red zone this season, only scoring on 72.7% of their drives, ranking 124th. They’re outside the top 100 nationally in sacks allowed with 2.5 per game, and have allowed over 7.25 tackles for loss per game, 129th in the nation.
Even under new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s “Go-Go” offense, Colorado can’t do the little things right and it’s got them another year of quarterback controversy. Redshirt freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis got pulled halfway through the Buffs’ Week 4 matchup against the Baylor Bears after going 11-for-14 with 75 passing yards.
With another quarterback battle and Isaac Wilson expected to start for CU’s homecoming game against Texas Tech this week, that position has felt like a merry-go-round with each horse rising and falling in equal intervals.
It’s an extension of last season, where Ryan Staub, Kaidon Salter and Lewis vied for position in Coach Prime’s merry-go-round. This year, so far, it’s involved just Lewis and Wilson but could have true freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne jockeying for a spot as well.
Ever since the graduation of Shedeur Sanders, the Buffs have looked dead in the water at the quarterback position and continue to sink fast. Without a consistent presence at the helm, CU’s offense has failed to generate special moments while each stallion gets its ride out the pen. If Colorado can’t create those moments or garner any kind of consistent rhythm out of the most important position on the field, the team around him can only do so much.
Colorado’s revamped defense under Chris Marve has been a somewhat brighter spot, being top 40 in the nation in its red-zone defense. They’ve been able to stop drives, averaging eight tackles for loss per game, the 14th best mark in the nation.
That’s where the positives end though, with the Buffs’ defense still allowing the second most points in the Big 12, just one fewer point than the West Virginia Mountaineers who are in the basement.
Even if the Buffs’ defense can get off the field, they’ve more than struggled on special teams. They’re kick return has only found 16.9 yards per kick, 104th in the nation while their punt return is simply abysmal, finding just north of 2 yards per return, the seventh worst in the nation.
When it’s all said and done, through four weeks, the Colorado Buffaloes find themselves in the bottom 10% of all FBS teams in nine categories and in the bottom fourth in the country in five others.This is a continuation of the previous year, where the Buffs were in the bottom fourth of all FBS teams in the country in nine categories and the bottom 10% in six others. It’s becoming a plague they can’t seem to run from.
Where else do you turn your attention to other than the head coach? The Buffs have had six different offensive and defensive coordinators and still haven’t found the success they’ve been searching for. CU is tied to a $54 million contract with Coach Prime through the end of the 2029 season, with a $10 million buyout before the end of 2026. The buyout will drop to $6 million during the 2027 calendar year.
Should the Buffs not be able to turn it around, they’ll be another team that’s lost its touch with the college football landscape and be lucky to win three or four games any given year. While the Colorado Buffaloes are treading water, there’s still hope for a program that’s expected to bring in five four-stars and is ranked in the top 50 nationally per On3 in their class of 2027 recruitment.
Time will tell if the Buffs will turn back their calendars to the 1990s or if this is another fluke in their fall from grace. They might not hit it yet, but the panic button is certainly coming into sight.
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