Colorado football: Is a bowl berth realistic in 2023?

It’s been quite the offseason for Colorado football fans after the hiring of Deion Sanders in the winter.

The Karl Dorrell era didn’t go quite as planned and, well, it went up in flames like many expected when he was hired following the departure of Mel Tucker. Now, Sanders is left to pick up the pieces and he’s already made a ton of changes within the program.

In fact, there are only a few starters returning from last year’s team and most of the Buffaloes’ roster is brand new. There are very few leftovers from the Dorrell era.

And that’s not exactly the worst news as Colorado went just 1-11 last season and looked like one of the worst teams in all of college football on both sides of the ball.

Major changes were necessary in the offseason and they’ve been made.

But what can we expect from this new-look team?

Is a bowl game realistic for Colorado football?

A major question surrounding Colorado has been: what kind of win total should be expected?

That’s a fairly tough question to answer considering no one knows how the new roster is going to gel under the new Sanders regime. These guys haven’t played together yet and Sanders has never been a head coach in the FBS, let alone the Power Five.

Looking at the schedule, though, is it fair to say a bowl game is within reach?

In the first month of the year, there are two games that are likely wins. A home game against Nebraska and another against Colorado State could very well end up in the win column. I don’t see them beating TCU or Oregon on the road or toppling USC in Boulder.

Heading into October with a 2-3 record, at best, Colorado could steal a win at Arizona State as the Sun Devils, too, are rebuilding. They should also beat Stanford at home. However, the Buffaloes will lose to UCLA and then kick off November with a loss to Oregon State.

In need of two wins in the final three games, Colorado would have to beat two or Arizona, Washington State, and Utah. Is that possible? Sure. Is it likely? No.

So, yes, a bowl game is possible, but everything would have to go right in the winnable games for Colorado and there’s next to no room for error.

You can’t be too upset with a 5-7 season or 4-8 if you’re a Colorado fan, especially fresh off of 1-11.