Deion Sanders

The Colorado Buffaloes had a bye this past week. It ended up working out just fine for them in the polls.

Deion Sanders' charges moved up to No. 21 in the Week 11 Associated Press Poll, an increase of two spots from last week.

Colorado, which sits at 6-2 on the season, was ranked for the first time last week after beating Cincinnati, 34-23. It was the team's second straight win in the Big 12 after smoking Arizona, 34-7.

"We have earned where we are," head coach Deion Sanders told reporters before the Cincy win. "We actually feel like we're better than what we are. Because we are just starting to see the fruit of the work and the understanding of the expectation that we have for ourselves. Forget what others have for us, but what we have for ourselves."

The team's Week 2 loss to Nebraska doesn't look quite as good in hindsight, as the Cornhuskers are just 5-4 on the year. The team also lost to Kansas State earlier in October, with the Wildcats (7-2) surprisingly ranked 22nd in the latest AP Poll, one spot below the Buffaloes.

Both teams are trying to catch No. 9 BYU (8-0, 5-0 in conference) and No. 17 Iowa State (7-1, 4-1) in the Big 12 with a spot in the championship game on the line. Colorado's remaining schedule includes conference matchups against Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State. Of that group, only the Red Raiders (6-3) currently have a winning record.

Behind star quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way dynamo Travis Hunter, the Buffs are in the hunt for a conference title. Win out, and they'll not only potentially have a shot in the conference title game, but perhaps the College Football Playoff as well.

There's a lot of football left to be played before that talk, however.

Travis Hunter plans to celebrate Halloween in style this year.

"For Halloween, I might dress up as Coach Prime," Hunter said during his weekly show (5:40 mark). "Get me an overalls, gold chain and the glasses with some shoes. But I dunno man, just gonna have fun."

In case you were wondering about the overalls, here's one of Deion Sanders' fits from a practice several months ago. The chains and glasses, on the other hand, have been a Sanders' staple for many years now.

As for Hunter, he's tricked opposing quarterbacks into throwing him a pair of interceptions this season and has treated the Colorado offense to 60 receptions for 757 yards and eight touchdowns. There arguably hasn't been a better dual-threat player in college football since Charles Woodson won the Heisman, and it's only appropriate that Hunter would mimic his head coach—himself a two-way weapon and two-sport star back in the day—on this holiday.

The Colorado Buffaloes keep winning football games. The Associated Press voters have finally been moved.

Deion Sanders' charges were ranked for the first time this season in the Week 10 AP Poll, coming in at No. 23.

The Buffs won their second straight game on Saturday, defeating Cincinnati 34-23 behind Shedeur Sanders' 323 yard and two touchdowns, while Travis Hunter added nine receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns on offense and two touchdowns on defense.

WAIT FOR TRAVIS HUNTER'S CELLY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/j6KQT9mHJM

— ESPN (@espn) October 27, 2024

ANOTHER TD FOR TRAVIS HUNTER 😤 pic.twitter.com/qWxfhdLMPH

— ESPN (@espn) October 27, 2024

The win made Colorado bowl-eligible with four games remaining in the season and kept the Buffaloes firmly in the Big 12 title race, currently behind only the undefeated pair of BYU and Iowa State as well as Kansas State (7-1 overall, 4-1 in conference).

"It's cute. It really is," the head coach said of becoming bowl eligible. "Because we really want that, but that's not all we're after. That's one of the hurdles that we're jumping over and going over. That's a tremendous hurdle that we're happy, we're excited, but that's not the end goal for us. That's the beginning, but we are thankful and appreciative that the hard work is going noticed."

Deion Sanders has Colorado bowl eligible for the first time in eight years.
That’s it. That’s the tweet.

— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) October 27, 2024

Colorado has more Big 12 wins (4) than Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Utah combined (3).

The latter four all received multiple first-place votes in the Big 12 media poll.

— Kyle Bonagura (@BonaguraESPN) October 27, 2024

Colorado is 6-2, 4-1 in the Big 12, going bowling for the first time in eight years and still in the league title race. Deion Sanders has delivered on what he was hired to do.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) October 27, 2024

Colorado was the worst team in the P5 two years ago...Deion Sanders came to Boulder as their Head Coach and now they're 6-2 headed to a Bowl...4-1 in the Big 12 with an outside shot at the Big 12 Title Game

Where you at haters??

— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) October 27, 2024

As for Colorado's absence from the polls until this point, Sanders said he was more than happy to remain unranked.

"Don't rank us, please," he told reporters after Saturday's win. "We don't like that. We'd rather be in the back in the dark, just chillin'."

Voters didn't comply, however. Colorado will now face Texas Tech in two weeks, followed by matchups with Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State. Should they continue collecting wins, the Buffs have the chance to climb the polls and perhaps even make noise in the Big 12 title race.

Sanders and his team certainly remain confident.

"We're on a wonderful journey," he said Saturday. "We know the direction we're going."

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders believes his team is relishing more of an underdog role after improving to 6-2 on Saturday thanks to a 34-23 win over Cincinnati.

In his postgame press conference, Coach Prime quipped that he doesn't want voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll to make the Buffs a ranked team.

"We ain't thinking about the playoffs right now. We go one game at a time," he told reporters. "We don't even want to be ranked. Don't rank us, please. We don't like that. We'd rather be at the back, in the dark, just chilling in the cut. We good, we cool, we straight. So don't feel pressure to rank us."

Sanders' comments are a marked contrast from the general swagger that surrounded the program when he first arrived and then after a 3-0 start. He appears to have learned his lesson in terms of managing expectations and keeping them relatively grounded.

The Buffs weren't even in the receiving votes category of the AP's Week 9 poll, but they could claim a spot when the rankings are updated Sunday.

Illinois (No. 20), Misssouri (No. 21), Navy (No. 24) and Vanderbilt (No. 25) all lost this weekend and could fall out of the Top 25. Should that happen, Colorado might be among the beneficiaries. The team is bowl-eligible and tied for the third-best mark in the Big 12 (4-1).

Some will argue the Buffaloes' record flatters them a bit, though, considering they lost their two biggest games so far, falling to Nebraska on Sept. 7 and Kansas State on Oct. 12. The Wildcats are the only ranked team they've played so far.

Still, there's no getting around the fact that Colorado is a much better team than it was in 2023, and AP voters will reward Sanders and his players accordingly if they keep adding to their win tally.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders weighed in on this year's Heisman Trophy race following the Buffaloes' 34-23 win over Cincinnati on Saturday.

Sanders said he doesn't necessarily care whether quarterback Shedeur Sanders is considered a serious candidate but that "it's just strange" he isn't in the conversation much.

"It's just funny to me," Coach Prime told reporters. "I just think it's just ignorant, but it's funny to us because Shedeur could care less. Shedeur wants to be drafted in a wonderful city. He wants to win out. That's what he thinks about. He ain't thinking about no darn Heisman, man."

Sanders was much more declarative when it came to two-way star Travis Hunter, whose Heisman candidacy lost momentum when a shoulder injury limited his usage in Colorado's previous two games.

"Now, Travis is the best college football player in the country. We all know that," Sanders said. "Why are we even deliberating over that? What are we doing? Like, when does that change? So what's the criteria? Somebody needs to say what's the criteria of that prestigious award. Because we're looking at the best high school football player that — there hasn't been a Travis Hunter ever. Ever. And I'm sitting up here saying that."

On Shedeur, Sanders answered his own question to some extent when he lobbied for Hunter.

It takes exceptional circumstances for teammates to be on the same Heisman ballot. Alabama had two finalists in 2020 (Mac Jones and DeVonta Smith), which came after the Crimson Tide were 11-0 and the SEC champions. Ohio State also did it the year earlier with Justin Fields and Chase Young, and the Buckeyes were likewise unbeaten going into the postseason.

Colorado, by contrast, is unranked and lacks a true signature win. Both are unhelpful toward any efforts by Shedeur to build a Heisman campaign. His individual numbers are also strong (2,591 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and a 165.0 passer rating) but not exceptional enough to overcome his team's record.

Hunter, on the other hand, reminded fans why he has a case to be atop the Heisman hierarchy. He caught nine passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns while notching two tackles and breaking up four passes against Cincinnati.

The junior is at the very least on track to get an invite to New York City of the Heisman ceremony, and he might wind up as the second winner in program history after Rashaan Salaam in 1994.

Colorado and head coach Deion Sanders make sure they catch a prospective recruit's eye when they send an official offer letter.

One such letter is making the rounds on social media. The black and gold-embossed packet features a Louis Vuitton-like pattern on the outside and on the inside highlights the achievements of the program and Sanders:

The Colorado Buffs offer letters are different 😮‍💨🔥🔥🔥
https://t.co/8Vlp9chhrI

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) October 24, 2024

As much as that letter is crafted to stand out, its ultimate effectiveness may be somewhat limited. It's not as though Colorado is the only school with elaborate or creative offer letters.

Blessed to receive my official offer from @GeorgiaFootball in the mail today ! #GoDawgs @DellMcGee @CoachToddMonken @THEHIVEFB pic.twitter.com/wiVAYvR1NP

— Roderick Robinson II (@rodrob204) August 6, 2022

Extremely thankful for my official offer letter from the University of Alabama🐘 roll tide! pic.twitter.com/gjF3jqVRpj

— Mal Waldrep (@WaldrepMal) August 2, 2024

Today we make it official! #OnTheSh19 Scholarship Offer Letters are out. #WorkTheBody pic.twitter.com/62yxpMbzog

— ECU Football (@ECUPiratesFB) August 1, 2018

In general, traditional high school recruiting hasn't been a strength for the Buffs during Sanders' tenure. Colorado was 30th in 247Sports' composite rankings for 2023 but slipped to 95th in 2024. The early returns for 2025 aren't encouraging with the team sitting in 89th with eight commitments so far.

Maybe these letters signal a bigger collective focus from the coaching staff toward recruiting rather than turning over the roster through the transfer portal every season.

If that's the goal for the Buffaloes, their performance on the field is having more of a positive impact than anything else. They're one win away from bowl eligibility and could conceivably make the Big 12 title game. At 3-1 in the conference, Colorado is behind co-leaders BYU and Iowa State by just one game.

Star players want to play for a winner, and Sanders is now building that in Boulder.

Granted, a lot of the top recruits the Buffs offered this year have committed to other schools, so Coach Prie and his staff will have a hard time getting their 2025 class up among the best Power Four schools.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders isn't a fan of his team playing games that kick off late into the night.

Speaking to reporters during his weekly press conference (starts at 9:00 mark), Sanders explained he doesn't "like" late-night kickoff times because it forces the team to alter its routine:

"You gotta change the schedule. You gotta prepare the kids because we practice in the morning, so now we gotta do body adjustments, time adjustments, sleep adjustments for our young men so they can start off fairly quickly. We hadn't started off quick in the night games because that flips our whole schedule. We fared better in day games because that's who we are, but we plan on making adjustments this week to make sure we get the proper sleep, the proper rest, and we're prepared for kickoff."

The time difference is especially jarring for the Buffaloes this season now that they are back in the Big 12 after spending the previous 13 seasons in the Pac-12.

Given the amount of attention that Coach Prime has brought to Colorado, the football program is being put in prime time frequently. Five of the Buffaloes' seven games this season have started at 7:30 p.m. ET or later.

Saturday's game against Cincinnati at Folsom Field will mark the second time in three weeks that Colorado has a 10:15 p.m. ET kickoff. It previously happened on Oct. 12, when Coach Prime's team lost 31-28 to Kansas State.

Colorado is in the Mountain time zone, so it will be an 8:15 p.m. MDT start in the state. But being an athlete also means being a creature of habit and developing a routine to make sure you are at peak condition—or at least close to it—when the game begins.

Sanders did acknowledge he was "appreciative" of his team getting games in the national spotlight because it means people are paying attention, even though it does cause some headaches with preparation throughout the week.

You would never know there were any concerns for Colorado so far this season. Sanders has the team off to a 5-2 start, already surpassing its win total from the entire 2023 campaign.

Colorado can become bowl eligible for the first time since 2020 with one more victory. The team will get a break after Saturday's game with a bye next week before taking on Texas Tech on Nov. 9.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders had an interesting way of describing how his team is motivated by playing road games in hostile environments.

"We liked to be booed and naysayed and hated. It turns us on. It turns us on," Sanders said Tuesday during his weekly press conference (58:00 mark). "It's kind of sexy, matter of fact. That's how I felt when I played. I mean I loved to be on the road and get booed and naysayer and hated on. I think we like being underdogs. ... Underdogs meaning on the road, away from home. But we like that. We like that. We really do."

The 5-2 Buffaloes have won each of their last three road games after losing an away game against Nebraska in the second week of the season. The team most recently cruised past Arizona 34-7, silencing the crowd at Arizona Stadium.

Three out of Colorado's final five games are at home, including Saturday's matchup against Cincinnati. The team will travel to face Texas Tech on Nov. 9 and Kansas on Nov. 23.

With a 3-1 record in Big 12 play, the Buffaloes will need some help if they hope to compete for a conference title, but continuing their success on the road will put them in a position to earn a spot in the championship game if the chips fall their way.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders confirmed two-way star Travis Hunter will play Saturday against Cincinnati.

Sanders said the junior wide receiver/defensive back, who's dealing with a shoulder injury, "will certainly contribute a lot more than a week ago because he's healthier."

Hunter left in the second quarter of Colorado's 31-28 loss to Kansas State on Oct. 12 and didn't return to the game.

In the 34-7 win over Arizona, he also sat out the second half. The Buffs carried a 21-point lead into the locker room at halftime, so they didn't need him much to see out the victory. He finished with two receptions for 17 yards and one tackle.

Travis Hunter will not play the rest of Colorado-Arizona game after reaggravating his injury suffered last week.

Buffs are sitting Hunter as a precautionary reason pic.twitter.com/ybPOyQhiBS

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 19, 2024

Saturday should present a tough test for Sanders' squad. Colorado and Cincinnati have identical overall and conference records (5-2, 3-1), and they sit 40th and 41st respectively in the SP+ metric of ESPN's Bill Connelly.

Especially if they have his services for more than one half, Hunter's presence could make a big difference for the Buffs toward getting the win that would make them bowl-eligible for the first time since 2020.

The last two weeks have also caused Hunter's Heisman Trophy campaign to lose some steam. Nobody doubts his talent, but he also needs to have the on-field production to overtake Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who's arguably the favorite right now. Only playing two quarters each week won't help Hunter get there.

Former President of the United States, Barack Obama, made an appearance in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday and hyped up the Arizona Wildcats prior to their game against the 5-2 Colorado Buffaloes.

"I know Colorado got a couple good players, I also know you guys have beaten them twice in a row," Obama told the crowd in Tucson.

Former President Barack Obama said don’t bet against Arizona tomorrow 😂

“I know Colorado got a couple good players, I also know you guys have beaten them twice in a row”

🎥 : @lauralevyCO pic.twitter.com/5kNJgouvoZ

— We Coming 🦬 (@SkoBuffsGoBuffs) October 19, 2024

The Buffs must have heard the former president's remarks and set out to prove him wrong, dominating the Wildcats 34-7 at Arizona Stadium.

In a post-game press conference following their win, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders made sure to express his love for Obama but was glad his team managed to pull off the win.

"President Obama is everything to me. I mean I love him, I admire him, I respect him tremendously," Coach Prime told reporters. "But... I heard what he said. President, I heard what you said man."

Shedeur Sanders went 23 for 33, throwing for 250 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

In addition to his son, Coach Prime emphasized that the Buffs have more than just two good players on their roster.

"We have more than two good players. "But you're here (in Arizona) so you had to support that," Coach Prime said. "President! Come one man. You're my man. I love you, I appreciate you, but come on dog."

Coach Prime responds to Barack Obama’s comments yesterday 😂 https://t.co/Y4ffHTJckT pic.twitter.com/6ZgimfFu8M

— DNVR Buffs (@DNVR_Buffs) October 19, 2024

Colorado will host the Cincinnati Bearcats next Saturday.