Colorado football: 3 bold predictions for the Buffaloes in 2023

1. Colorado wins five games

No one is expecting much from Colorado this season. Sure, expectations are higher than they have been because Deion Sanders has returned the excitement to Boulder, but most people have the Buffaloes winning three, maybe four, games.

I’m going one step bolder and picking Colorado to win five games and just miss out on a bowl bid.

Starting the season at TCU, the Buffaloes will still be trying to gel with an entirely new roster and new coaching staff. They’ll lose that one to the reigning national runner-up. But then they’ll reel off two straight wins over Nebraska and Colorado State to improve to 2-1. Colorado will lose the next two games to Oregon and USC although the latter game may be closer than people expect.

Colorado goes on the road to beat Arizona State before taking down Stanford at home the following week to improve to 4-3.

Fans will be expecting bowl game heading into a bye, but they’ll go just 1-4 down the stretch, beating only Arizona at home to end the season with a 5-7 record. Could they steal a win at Oregon State or at Washington State to make a bowl? Sure, but I don’t see it.

Still, five wins is a huge building block.