Bowl projections nearly in consensus of where CU Buffs will end up

Four of five experts now agree on what the Colorado Buffaloes destiny will be this season, and none of them believe the Buffs will be in the College Football Playoff.

We’ll know a lot more on Tuesday when the No. 21 Buffs (AP Poll) are expected to land a ranking in the first CFP Poll of the year. This season is the first where 12 teams will qualify for the Playoff with the first four getting byes. Additionally, power conferences like the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 each have a guaranteed spot that will go to the winner of their conference championship game. Meaning, Colorado has two narrow paths to make the CFP. The first is to win out, get some help and win the Big 12—an indisputable way to lock the Buffaloes into the tournament. The second relies on an at-large bid which would mean one of those three things—winning out, getting some help or winning the title game—did not happen but the committee still ranks CU in the top 12. As for the narrow path, Colorado got a lot of help this past weekend while idle when Iowa State and Kansas State both lost.

That’s all putting the cart before the bison. The last time Colorado took the field they clinched bowl eligibility in moving to 6-2 on the season. In itself, that’s a big deal because it’s just the second time in the last 16 full seasons that the Buffs are moving on to the postseason. Now the bowl season means less than it used to 20 years ago when the Buffaloes were regularly visiting due to the CFP, but it’s still a big deal for those in Boulder. Deion Sanders has turned around a 1-win team into one postseason bound just two years later. For that, a lot of folks will be happy to know that all five experts have Colorado in a pretty good bowl game even if they all believe the narrow path to the CFP isn’t likely. The team will be eyeing the CFP over the next month.

Buffs bowl projections

24/7 Sports: Holiday Bowl (San Diego) against Duke
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: Holiday Bowl (San Diego) against SMU
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Holiday Bowl (San Diego) against Clemson
USA Today: Holiday Bowl (San Diego) Louisville
Action Network: Valero Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) against Iowa State

The last two times Colorado has made a bowl game they’ve traveled to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, and neither was a good result. The Buffaloes last played in the Holiday Bowl way back in 1996, a 33-21 win over Washington—Colorado’s lone trip to San Diego for the postseason. Bowl projections are a little bit tough this year because the bowl tie-ins are also muddied this fall due to conference realignment, meaning long-established relationships between conferences and bowls have been tossed away. However, some prior Pac-12 tie-ins for CU are still active. At any rate, Buffaloes fans will be happy about bowling just maybe not so much if it’s the Alamo Bowl, where Colorado has lost in all three of their appearances.