2023 Pac-12 football pretenders: start with Deion Sanders and Colorado
The offseason means a lot of things in college football. One is a discussion of pretenders and contenders in various conferences. In the Pac-12, which team is a foremost pretender entering the season? The answer seems pretty clear to those who closely follow the college football industry: Colorado. Deion Sanders might be building his Coach Prime identity and persona in Boulder, with fans flocking to the spring game and ticket sales going through the roof. Excitement is surging on the CU campus, as one might readily expect.
Yet, that’s not likely to translate into a lot of wins this year. Football analysts know this. Casual sports fans might not.
Colorado could be really, really good next year. On that point we’re not about to argue or push back. This year, though? It’s going to be a rough ride, primarily because all the transfers Deion Sanders has brought to Boulder have not had any real chance to play together. Most of the transfer activity in and out of the program occurred after, not before, the spring game. The current CU roster has had practically zero time playing on a field together. Those players will need all of August camp just to begin to get on the same page. This on-the-job training will continue into the first month of the season, when Colorado plays TCU, Nebraska, Oregon, and USC. Colorado is going to lose those four games, barring something highly improbable. The Buffaloes are not going to qualify for a bowl game. If they go 5-7, it would actually be a tremendous accomplishment.
Football analysts get this. Casual fans might not. It’s worth telling the casuals — the normies — that 2023 will not be a huge splash for Coach Prime.
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