Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes finally got their elusive ranked win

The Colorado Buffaloes got their first win over a ranked opponent since the first game of the Deion Sanders era, a win that was much-needed for the program

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Oct 11, 2025, 7:09 PM Updated: 7:11 pm

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(Photo by Cristian Blanco / Sko Buffs Sports)

BOULDER, Colo. — The Colorado Buffaloes beat a ranked opponent in their first game under Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders against TCU in 2023. After eight failed attempts to replicate that success over the next two and a half seasons, the drought finally ended on Saturday, as his Buffs took down the No. 22 Iowa State Cyclones 24-17 at Folsom Field.

When you look at that win over TCU, can you really call it a ranked win if you look at the 2023 season in full? The Horned Frogs finished the year 5-7 and were not close to finishing in the top 25. That was not the same team that made it to the National Championship the year before, and showed with time that they didn’t boast the talent of a ranked team.

This Iowa State team is no pushover. They have one of the best coaches in the Big 12 in Matt Campbell and one of the best quarterbacks in the conference in Rocco Becht. They started the season hot, and have stumbled the last two weeks, but are still one of the better opponents that Sanders’ squad has taken down in two and a half seasons.

Prime spoke on the big win after the game.

“It’s vital… The most frustrating part [about not winning previously] is, we’re good,” Sanders said postgame. “It sounds crazy given our record… But today, right before we completed the third down pass, we said, ‘This is the game.'”

Everyone on the Buffs shared that same sentiment postgame. Whether it was quarterback Kaidon Salter, offensive lineman Zy Crisler, defensive back Tawfiq Byard or linebacker Jeremiah Brown, the notion didn’t change. This win was massive, especially heading into a bye week.

It’s been a rough stretch for the Buffs. Before Saturday, they hadn’t defeated a Power 4 opponent, and had suffered some brutal losses in games they should’ve won. It had seemed that the magic was starting to fade in Boulder on the back of a 2-4 start, but this team rejuvenated the fans and the city of Boulder. Prime’s mindset surrounding his players never wavered, even after back-to-back losses the last few weeks.

“As a whole, we don’t doubt who we have. That’s why it’s so frustrating sometimes. We should have done this the past few weeks,” Sanders said.

Now, there are still a lot of things that this Buffs squad needs to patch moving forward. They let up 441 yards of total offense — 236 of which came on the ground — and had four three-and-outs on the offensive side of the ball. If they’re serious about making a good bowl game, they’re going to have to beat some opponents in the next few games who are just as good as or better than Iowa State.

For Salter, he knows that no matter who’s on the other side of the football, he’s got a group of guys that he’s willing to go to battle with every Saturday.

“This team right here, we never quit… We have a team full of dawgs that just don’t quit,” Salter said.

What’s next for these Colorado Buffaloes? They have a much-needed bye week on the horizon in which they can rest up and hopefully get some guys back from injury before they head west to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes. That will be a challenging game in a challenging environment against a team that’s much better than it was a season ago when the Buffs beat them by 25.

This team only needs three more wins to be bowl-eligible this season, a feat that would be a small victory for a team that lost a ton of star power from a season ago. They showed on Saturday that they can in fact do the little things in the fourth quarter to come out victorious in close games against good opponents, but the key will now be consistency. Was this a one time thing? Or is it something this team will be able to bring to the table week in and week out?

No matter the answer to that, this is a ranked win that this team badly needed, and a victory that could turn the season around.