What’s Up With All the Criticism of the Colorado Buffs Football Team?

Is the criticism about more than football?

To all of the readers who follow me, I apologize if you feel this article represents a departure from what you are used to from me. While this is a different type of story for me, I believe it capsulizes much of what I write about.

I’m not going to make an argument in this article. This article reflects me thinking out loud more than me making an argument. I will simply ask questions here, allowing readers to think out loud with me and form their own opinions.

This weekend, I watched the Oregon vs. Colorado college football game. According to Deion Sanders, coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, Oregon gave the Buffs “a good old-fashioned butt-kicking.”

The viewership of the game far exceeded what should have been expected for a match between a Colorado Buffalo team that won 1 and lost 11 games last year and has only had two winning seasons since 2005 and an Oregon Duck team that had a 10–3 record and a 7–2 Pac-12 record last year.

While the hype surrounding Colorado’s acquisition of Deion Sanders as head coach appears well deserved. The fact remains that Colorado had a horrific season last year, and it has been nearly 20 years since they’ve had a winning season.

While the tensions and expectations ran high going into the Oregon vs. Colorado game, the Buffaloes’ record did not warrant such expectations. Okay, the Buffs, under “Coach Prime,” opened their season by pulling off an opening shocker with a 45–42 win over 17th-ranked Texas Christian University (TCU), runner-up in the 2022 College Football Playoff national championship. Colorado then went on to win their next two games to open their season with a 3–0 record. Was this any reason, however, to expect the Buffs to upset an Oregon team that has won 13 conference championships, appeared in 36 Bowl games, and has had a Heisman trophy winner?

Rather than rooting for a “Cinderella” underdog team like the Buffs to continue to perform well, much of the rhetoric going into the Buffs’ match-up against Oregon was framed as though people were rooting for an underdog Oregon to defeat a powerhouse, Colorado. Worse than that, much of the rhetoric verged on hostility, suggesting, for some reason, Colorado needed to “be humbled” and “put in its place.” Why is that?

While everyone usually loves an underdog story, that hasn’t happened with the Colorado Buffaloes. The criticism of Colorado began shortly after the hiring of Deion Sanders and long before the team played its first game, and it has continued win after win. What is it about his particular “Cinderella story” that has provoked unrestrained criticism rather than support and excitement? Is the criticism of Colorado and Deion Sanders about something more than (or other than) football?

Rather than attempting to provide any answers to the questions I pose here, I simply pose them for consideration, reflection, and comments if anyone chooses.

After receiving what Sanders called “a good old-fashioned butt-kicking,” Sanders said, “You better get me right now. This is the worst we’re gonna be. You better get me right now.”

While Colorado has already tripled its wins from last season, it will be interesting to see how they move forward after their defeat to Oregon and whether or not fans and the media will embrace them and fall in love with them the way other “Cinderella teams” have been loved and embraced.

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