Deion Sanders and the CU Buffs are ranked once again

Last year the AP Top 25 College Football Poll Voters listened to Deion Sanders talk and the Colorado Buffaloes vaulted into an early ranking. This season they are not listening to Coach Prime, they are watching his team play and it’s why the black and gold ends October as a ranked program.

In Sunday’s poll, Colorado was voted in at No. 23.

The Buffaloes were last ranked in 2023, earning a spot in three separate weeks’ polls very early in the season and actually getting up to No. 18 in the country. However, the poll entering Week 10 feels a lot more real than any ranks in a season’s opening days. The last time the Buffs were ranked this deep into the season was a No. 21 spot in December of 2020. In a non-COVID-shortened-season, the last time CU was ranked this late into the season was during the 2016 Rise campaign.

Where Sanders built a lot of hype last year and the team didn’t back it up—he actually asked voters to refrain from placing CU in their top 25s after the Buffs mauled the Cincinnati Bearcats 34-23 on Saturday, clinching bowl eligibility in the process.

“We ain’t think about the playoffs right now. We go one game at a time. We don’t even want to be ranked. Don’t rank us, please. We don’t like that,” Sanders said early Sunday morning in his postgame news conference. “We rather be in the back, in the dark, just chilling in the cut. We good, we cool. We straight. All right, so don’t feel pressure to rank us. I promise you everybody, we are straight. So we’re not thinking about that.”

Colorado has a bye this week so they won’t play with their new No. 23 ranking. Though they’re almost guaranteed to still have it by the time they face Texas Tech.

As of now, the Red Raiders are the only foe in Colorado’s last four contests that’s even above .500. And certainly none of these teams are ranked. While Colorado sits idle, Texas Tech will travel to face undefeated Iowa State. The Buffs need to win out and get the Cyclones, BYU and Kansas State to lose for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Iowa State will host Kansas State later this season but BYU misses both these teams—meaning Colorado could go 8-1 in Big 12 play and it could not be good enough. The Buffs could both be out of position for the title game and lack a single ranked win for bowl and playoff committees. While the folks in Boulder rest to start November, they’ll be watching Iowa State-Texas Tech and Kansas State-Houston very closely next weekend.

“We’re thinking about going into this bye week, healing some injuries, correcting some things that that we didn’t do well, and having a good time and probably giving them a day or two off,” Sanders said. “They’re not getting a whole week off, I promise you that, but a day or two off, they deserve that tremendously.”

While Sanders’ talk was to underrate the Buffs, maybe it’s good the voters didn’t listen. CU hits the rankings at the perfect time. Between now and Colorado’s next game in Lubbock, the first College Football Playoff Poll will come out. And when the committee drops their debut rank on Nov. 5, the AP Poll is a good hint that the Buffs could be ranked in that too. While the Buffs will likely have to win out and maybe also win the Big 12 Championship Game to earn a playoff berth, we’re about to find out what the only voices who matter really think of the 2024 team.