Ducks prove CU Buffs still far off college football’s blue bloods

The Colorado Buffaloes just don’t have what it takes to be College Football Playoff contenders—at least not yet—and that much was proven true by the 42-6 pounding put on by the Oregon Ducks on Saturday.

The Buffs just don’t beat the Ducks, not in Boulder or Eugene as the team has won nine of the last 10 matchups, so a big loss to Oregon isn’t new. It’s not necessarily even a litmus test, only if CU had won would it really be noteworthy. That’s not what the national headlines will say as Deion Sanders likely will get dragged and the Buffaloes free fall in the rankings.

And it’s fair for a day or so given Colorado didn’t just lose, they got embarrassed. The Buffaloes gained 199 yards on the day—93 of which were on a garbage time touchdown drive—and were penalized for 103 yards. They only picked up 13 first downs and never even had more than a five or so percent chance of winning according to ESPN.

Son and starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders had his worst game thus far in Black and Gold, held to 159 yards and a touchdown. He was pressured and hit all afternoon, sacked seven times. Sanders’ Heisman hopes for sure took a hit given Bo Nix outplayed him head to head, with 276 yards in the air and four touchdowns combined.

But Coach Prime was starting from nearly zero in Boulder and losing to the Ducks doesn’t derail the process at all. What Sanders was shown by Dan Lanning’s Ducks is what it will take to go from being a solid Power Five team to a great one.

Sanders knows as much, saying last week that Colorado is at least seven to eight guys away from truly being at the level it’ll take to make that jump. Luckily the Buffaloes will have more of a chance next year with the CFP expanding to 12 teams. And maybe the Ducks showed Deion it’s going to be far for more than seven or eight players with the Buffaloes lines absolutely crushed.

Still, that’s all future—all. 2024. In 2023, Colorado is 3-1, with an incredible chance to make a bowl for just the second time in a full season since 2007. Getting the world reinterested in the Buffaloes and being decent was the first massive step taken by Sanders, the next and maybe even bigger step is getting to where Oregon has been for years.

“You better get me right now. This is the worst we’re going to be,” Sanders said postgame.

Sadly for Prime, he won’t get a shot back at Lanning, and his talk, with the Ducks headed to the Big Ten and the Buffs going to the Big 12 next year, unless CU somehow makes it to the Pac-12 Title Game. So it may be personal now for the two of them, given the pregame speech and the team running it up but it just won’t matter this time around.

Colorado hosts USC next week in Boulder, in a game that will again have the sport’s spotlight.

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