Is Colorado a serious contender for the Big 12 and the playoffs? How the Buffs turned things around

IN SEPTEMBER 2023, Colorado Football coach Deion Sanders could have licked his wounds immediately after the 42-6 loss to the Oregon Ducks.

Instead, he attended the post-game press conference at Autzen Stadium completely unimpressed.

“One thing I can say honestly and openly: You better come get me now,” Sanders said. “This is the worst thing that will happen to us. You’d better get me now.”

Despite the Buffaloes’ 3-0 start, this was an admission from Sanders. He knew his team wasn’t ready to compete with the better teams in college football.

But it was also a warning.

“I know I wore sunglasses,” he said. “But I can see the future, and it looks really good.”

As the season wore on and Colorado limped to last place in the Pac-12, it was fair to question how realistic Sanders’ early-season announcement was. The offensive line couldn’t contain his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and the defense allowed the third-most points of any Power 5 team.

An offseason filled with personnel changes and roster turnover did not have much of a positive impact on external expectations, as the Buffaloes were projected to finish 11th in the official preseason Big 12 media poll.

But the same day the poll was released, Sanders sat on ESPN and chuckled at the possibility.

“I would be an idiot to sit here and not tell you we want to win,” he said. “I don’t know who sits down and says they don’t plan on winning. You’d have to be an idiot to say that. We definitely intend to win.”

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Texas Tech, Sanders’ plan has come to fruition, and his play with Eugene last season seems almost prophetic.

With an improved offensive line and a reliable defense, the Buffs are not only significantly better than a year ago, they are also in the thick of the race for the Big 12 title and the College Football Playoff berth that comes with it.

WHEN SANDERS HIRED When Robert Livingston was named defensive coordinator in February, it was a somewhat unorthodox move.

Although Livingston had spent the last 12 years with the Cincinnati Bengals – the last eight as the secondary coach – he had never called plays before. And here he joined a team that was otherwise complete and happened to have two of the best defensive players in the history of the game – Sanders and Warren Sapp – in the building.

With all the attention focused on Colorado, this would mean a new level of pressure, and by the start of the second quarter of Colorado’s opener against FCS North Dakota State, Livingston was already feeling it.

“I thought I could get tar and feathers,” Livingston said. “It was 17-14, North Dakota State, and I was like, ‘Oh, shit’.”

The defense settled down and Colorado won 31-26, but it wasn’t exactly the statement win Colorado wanted as the same deficiencies as last season were on display. It was a similar story in the first half against Nebraska the next week, as the Buffs trailed 28-0 at halftime.

Here we go again.

Since then, however, Colorado has been a revelation, winning five of six games — narrowly losing to No. 19 Kansas State — with defensive improvement serving as a catalyst.

After allowing 34.8 points per game last year, that number has dropped to 22.0 this year.

Livingston had multiple conversations with Sanders during the interview process, including calls, video conferences with staff and an in-person visit. He wasn’t necessarily seeking a return to the college game, having last served as a quality control coach at Vanderbilt in 2011, but it quickly became clear that Sanders was the right person, Boulder was the right place and the opportunity to provide defensive backs The coordinator was too good to pass up.

“I fell in love with the place,” Livingston said. “For me it was a given.”

Livingston said he adopted Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon’s philosophy when he was hired as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator in 2021. He had no intention of implementing any particular plan. First he wanted to understand the squad and then develop a style to play to their strengths.

“It shouldn’t be, ‘Hey, we have to do it this way because that’s how I’ve always done it,'” Livingston said. “That’s lazy. That’s always been one of my pet peeves.”

“You have to be able to ask the hard questions: ‘Why are we doing it this way? Why do we teach it this way? Why are we playing this coverage or this blitz?’ You have to be able to highlight the guys you want to highlight.”

For the Buffs, that starts with Travis Hunter.

His two-way skills make him one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy, but he first made his mark in college football as a cornerback. He leads the team in interceptions (2) and pass breakups (7) and is one of five players to force a fumble.

“Travis is a unicorn,” Livingston said. “His feeling for the game is unique. He can feel the problems coming his way in two game series. He’s obviously one of the best players in the country, if not the best player.”

Livingston said Hunter and DJ McKinney’s ability to maintain man coverage has been a key to the defense’s pass rush.

“We put these curves in some difficult places,” Livingston said. “It’s a testament to them that they can win their one-on-one duels because when the rush and coverage don’t work together, explosive plays happen.”

While the coverage and pass rush stats show a chicken-and-egg dynamic, it’s worth noting that Colorado ranks 2nd in the Big 12 in sacks (22), 1st in QB pressures per game (14, 88) and ranks third in pass breakups per game (4). The tackling share (85.4%) has increased by five percentage points compared to the previous year. Everything got better as the season went on.

NO FBS QUARTERBACK was fired more than Shedeur Sanders a year ago. He was sidelined 52 times in 11 games and ultimately had to sit out the final game of the season due to injury after suffering a beating over the last three months.

The pass protection has historically been poor, and the rushing offense could have been worse. Colorado averaged just 2.21 yards per carry — the fourth-worst mark by a Power 5 team in the last decade — which led to the demotion of offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who was later hired as head coach at San Diego State.

It was clear to anyone watching that an overhaul was needed at the top, and Coach Prime made it clear that they would aggressively look for linemen who could play immediately in 2024. But as the season came to an end and this process played out, he also had to find a new offensive coach in Bill O’Boyle to continue with Lewis.

His preference for coaches with professional backgrounds led him to Norman, Oklahoma, where Phil Loadholt, a 7-year NFL veteran, was working as an offensive analyst at his alma mater.

“We were introduced through a mutual friend and he asked if I would be willing to do an interview over Zoom,” Loadholt told ESPN. “But he was down at his house in Texas, so I told him I’d like to meet him in person.”

Coach Prime agreed, so Loadholt set off on the two-and-a-half-hour drive across state lines. They met for a few hours and it was a natural fit from the start.

With Pat Shurmur named offensive coordinator, Loadholt brought with him a deep understanding of the offense. The two briefly crossed paths with the Minnesota Vikings in 2015 – they spent OTAs together before Loadholt retired over the summer – but more importantly, they came from similar attacking schools.

“He comes from the same family as a lot of the other players I played for,” Loadholt said. “I feel like I understand very well what he wants and how he wants to do it. The NFL style is familiar to me, and that made the transition a lot smoother for me because even though we haven’t been together long, we still speak the same language when it comes to offense.

When Loadholt arrived, Colorado was busy rebuilding its offensive line through the portal. The prevailing wisdom was that they would find players ready to play from day one, and when the season began, Colorado added twelve new offensive linemen, including nine transfers.

In eight games, results were mixed. Shedeur Sanders was sacked 25 times – only four FBS players were sacked more – but the protection improved over the year.

And even though we spent so much time adding players through the portal, those players weren’t the ones who had the biggest impact.

Of the players in the five-man combination that the Buffaloes have used most often this season, only Phillip Houston came through the transfer portal in the offseason – from the Florida International Panthers.

Three others – RG Kareem Harden, LG Tyler Brown and C Hank Zilinskas – were on Colorado’s roster last season, while perhaps the best is five-star freshman Jordan Seaton. UTEP transfer Mayers and Indiana transfer Kahlil Benson also saw significant playing time as Loadholt looked for the best combination and rotated up to eight players in a game. In the last game against Cincinnati, seven offensive linemen played at least 31 snaps.

Against Arizona, eight linemen played at least 19 snaps.

The first eight games were, above all, a confidence-building exercise, said Loadholt. He had to learn which players he could trust, and they had to build trust in each other and their quarterback.

“I played with a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback [Sam Bradford at Oklahoma in 2008] And [Shedeur] is one of those guys,” Loadholt said. “If we can protect him and there is that trust, he will prove us right.”

Before coming to Colorado, Loadholt met Seaton while visiting Oklahoma. What was noticeable back then has remained true this year.

“It was his attention to detail and the way he went about his business,” Loadholt said. “And then it shows up in our room too. He’s the first to answer a question here, which obviously helped him.

“He’s definitely wise beyond his years. He’s a smart young man who works his ass off and I’m proud of him for the way he’s played so far.”

Since allowing two sacks against Nebraska in Week 2, Seaton has only allowed one sack and two QB hits, according to Pro Football Focus.

The running game is also a work in progress. Only Florida State (2.67) averages fewer yards per carry among Power 4 teams than Colorado (2.77), but the Buffaloes have had more 100-yard rushing games in the last four games (3) than last season (2).

The gains are marginal, but they’ve made a difference, and that incremental improvement combined with the star power they already had has legitimized the Buffs in a way that can’t be disputed.

Colorado is no longer a team that can be accused of “fighting for clicks.”