CU Buffs placed in first playoff ranking under new format

The Colorado Buffaloes are officially in the hunt, named as one of the teams in Tuesday’s initial College Football Playoff ranking for the 2024 season.

Deion Sanders’ Buffs came in at No. 20 in the first ranking under the new format—meaning they’re just on the outside looking in at the tournament which will kick off on Dec. 20.

Under the new rules that went into place this season, the bracket increased from four teams all the way to 12. CU is very much alive given their current number. Even more so, the winner of the Big 12 Championship Game is guaranteed one of the dozen spots. The final ranking that will ultimately decide the dozen comes out on Dec. 8, meaning Tuesday’s was the first of six rankings slated to be shared over the next several weeks.

To be one of the best 12, Colorado will likely need to do two of the following three things: win out, get help in conference and/or win the Big 12 Title. The first-round playoff games will be hosted by the better-seeded teams on their campus, but if the Buffaloes somehow get all three things to happen they could get a bye past the first round and straight into the quarterfinal. The winners will never get re-seeded but those games will all be at neutral sites and are being hosted by the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The winners then play in the semifinal hosted by the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl with the winner of it all decided on Jan 20 in Atlanta’s National Championship Game.

The biggest game left for the Buffaloes is on this Saturday when they travel to take on Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are the lone plus .500 team left on Colorado’s slate. The game will have massive implications on the conference as well as the CFP picture. If CU can come away winners, they’ll be home for two of their last three games and the Buffs will likely be heavily favored for all of those contests.

This is just the third season the Buffs have ever been ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings. CU charted every week the poll was available during the program’s magical 2016 season, climbing as high as No. 8 before losing the Pac-12 Championship Game. Colorado was also ranked during the shortened 2020 season. The CFP rank has been the go-to one for season’s end since 2014, ultimately the current incarnation and the previous Bowl Championship Series (BCS) aim to determine a true champion of college football so that a situation like the Buffaloes’ 1990 title can never be shared with another program again.