Colorado football's postseason odds stacked against them ahead of 2026 season
· Yahoo Sports
The Colorado Buffaloes entered fall camp with a different vibe from last year. The team seems more focused and locked in with coach Deion Sanders on campus.
The Hall of Famer has insisted that he's back to being 100 percent healthy after dealing with bladder cancer. Unlike last year, Sanders is working a new set of players and new coordinators as well. One of the hardest things to do is to project where this Colorado team will be at the end of the season. Oddsmakers say the Buffs should be at 4.5 wins.
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After a 3-9 season that came apart at the end with a five-game losing streak, will there be a better effort to close out the season in 2026? If so, Sanders and Colorado beat the odds to make a bowl game? Those are two of the biggest questions that many people are asking before the Buffs take the field against Georgia Tech.
However, analysts from both CBS Sports and ESPN believe Colorado will have a losing season. The latest bowl game predictions put the Buffs around where oddsmakers think they'll end up. A majority of Big 12 teams will be bowling and CU is staying home.
ESPN's latest bowl game predictions by Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach from Aug. 22 has Colorado below .500 for the season. This is on par with CBS Sports' Brad Crawford, who also left the Buffs out of contention. What's interesting is all three of them have BYU and Texas Tech in the College Football Playoff this season.
While some people might disagree, Colorado's let down at the end of last season has a lot to do with perception right now. It was a different team than the one currently. But there are still some troubling factors with this Buffs team. One of the obvious ones is the size of the team. This is a smaller, and what some would argue, more athletic group compared to the one that left. The jury is still out on whether they're going to be competitive.
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Another factor is having the right personnel for the Go-Go offense. Brennan Marion has former five-star quarterback Julian Lewis ready to go for his homecoming to the Peach State. He's not the traditional dual-threat and this will be more of a hybrid offense. At least that's what being presented when anyone has talked about how Lewis is going to fit.
We'll have a chance to see how the start of the season plays out for Colorado. The opener in Atlanta against Golden Tech (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
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