TV networks also down on Prime’s Buffs, next game will be very late

The Colorado Buffaloes are getting a much-needed week off after a 29-7 loss to No. 11 Texas Tech, their third straight defeat. The people who pick college football’s TV slots don’t seem impressed lately either.

When Deion Sanders’ Buffs play again, it will be the Rumble in the Rockies against No. 12 Utah at Folsom Field. On Monday, the Big 12 and its TV partners announced that the Oct. 17 game will kick off at 8:15 p.m. MT on ESPN or ESPN2. The final network will be decided after the Oct. 10 games. The Utes will be used to the late start: they host Kansas this Saturday in the same 8:15 p.m. slot.

Kickoffs after 8 p.m. have become increasingly common since Colorado returned to the Big 12, even though the athletic department seeking better kickoff times was one reason they roamed back from the Pac-12.

Late nights in Boulder can make memorable games. The best recent example is the 2023 Rocky Mountain Showdown, early in Coach Prime’s first season. Colorado came back to beat Colorado State 43-35 in double overtime. The game lasted four hours and three minutes, the longest in program history. It ended at 12:25 a.m., the second-latest finish in Folsom Field history, behind only the 2015 game against Oregon, which ended at 12:31 a.m.

Still, nobody actually wants to kick off this late, and Sanders has complained about it before. But teams begging for TV slots can’t be choosers, and that’s where Sanders has put his program this year. After a stunning season-opening win at Georgia Tech and a blowout of a cupcake, Colorado has looked inept in one way or another against Northwestern, Baylor and Texas Tech.

The Buffs are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12, and they’ve now lost seven straight conference games. Utah, meanwhile, is 4-0 under first-year coach Morgan Scalley. This will be the 73rd meeting between the schools. The Utes have won eight of the last nine and 12 of the last 14.

If Sanders wants better TV slots, the fix is simple: win. Beating a top-15 Utah team at home in front of a national ESPN audience would do more for Colorado’s TV standing than any complaint.

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