8/24/2023 football Edit

Oregon State Football Opponent Preview: Colorado

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

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With the start of the 2023 season just around the corner, BeaversEdge kicks off the first in an opponent preview series diving into all 12 of Oregon State's opponents in 2023...

Up next is a road matchup with the Colorado Buffs, led by Coach Prime, Deion Sanders in his first season...

THE GAME

Date: Saturday, November, 4th, 2023

Time: TBD

Location: Folsom Field - Boulder, Co.

TV: TBD

Oregon State 2022 record: 10-3 (6-3 Pac-12)

Colorado 2022 record: 1-11 (1-9 P12)

Colorado Head Coach: Deion Sanders (0-0 at CU, 27-6 at Jackson State)

DID YOU KNOW? The Beavers lead the all-time series with Colorado 7-6 and have won three times all-time in Boulder. Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith also picked up his first career Pac-12 win as a head coach against CU in Boulder in 2018...

Colorado 2022 Recap

To say the 2022 campaign was a mess for Colorado would be putting it mildly...

With how much positive social media seemingly surrounds the Buffs today, it's almost hard to believe that they were one of the worst teams in college football last season, but they certainly were.

Colorado's offense was among the worst in the country last season, averaging just 15.4 points per game, while the defense was arguably worse, allowing 45 points and 510 yards per game. Simply put, essentially everything went awry in Boulder on the football field this past season.

There were many contenders for the worst loss of the season, but ultimately, the loss to Arizona in week five after an 0-5 start to the season takes the cake as it got head coach Karl Dorell fired as the program looked to reset. Dorell lasted just two and half seasons and had just one winning campaign, going 4-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020 year.

Kudos to interim HC Mike Sanford Jr. for catching Justin Wilcox and the Cal Bears napping for their only win of the season, otherwise the Buffs were a prime candidate to go 0-12 last season.

Outside of the win over the Bears, the closest Colorado came to victory this past season was a 42-34 loss to Arizona State in late October. There were a lot of lopsided losses along the way and the Buffs wrapped up the campaign with a 1-11 record, with a 1-9 mark in Pac-12 play, tied for the worst record in school history.

Best Win: vs. Cal (20-13 OT)

Worst Loss: vs. Arizona (43-20)

2022 Schedule

Colorado 2023 Outlook

While Colorado football was a mess last season, there's a big-time reason they've got optimism for the future as the Buffs arguably made the splashiest hire of the offseason in hiring former NFL standout and Jacksonville State head coach Deion Sanders to lead the program in the post-Dorell era.

Coach Prime wasted little time overhauling the Colorado roster, famously saying, "We got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my own luggage with me,” Sanders said. “And it’s Louis, OK.”

The Buffs had a record 52 players enter the transfer portal as Sanders completely reshuffled the deck and essentially turned over his roster by half in one offseason. The transition was unprecedented, even in this new portal era. The results will show themselves on the field, but it was a drastically bold approach to roster building.

While Colorado has been riding the offseason hype train, they're still likely to struggle in 2023. No question they'll be a lot more competitive under Sanders, especially with the talent they brought in via the portal, but Colorado is likely a multi-year project, even with the fast pace of the transfer portal.

Deion's son and quarterback Shadeur Sanders, along with dual-threat receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter, certainly bring the star power after putting up impressive numbers at Jackson State. How exactly that transition will go is up for debate, but they'll certainly be better than a season ago.

Defensively, the Buffs got a lot of transfer pieces from various spots, but how exactly they'll gel in year one of a new system is also highly up for debate. Charles Kelly comes over from Alabama to run the defense, but they're essentially starting from scratch with a very poor defense from last season.

All that being said, the Buffs are one of the more interesting teams to watch in college football this season for a bevy of reasons...

Key Players: QB Shadeur Sanders, WR/DB Travis Hunter, RB Kavosiey Smoke. S Trevor Woods, S Shilo Sanders, LB Demouy Kennedy

2023 Schedule

Season Projection: 3-9

Early Prediction

This game certainly has some preseason intrigue as we don't exactly know how good or bad the Buffs will be with all their offseason movement until they take the field, but it's still a contest Oregon State should win.

If Colorado turns out to be better than expected, there's a chance this contest could sniff a lot like a trap game, but I really don't think the schedule will be kind to Colorado's confidence this season and it should be a great time for Jonathan Smith to matchup with Deion Sanders.

There's a possibility that the Buffs could be 1-7 or 2-6 by the time the matchup with the Beavs based on how their schedule shakes out. I don't see them beating TCU, Nebraska, Oregon, USC, or UCLA, while they'd still have to be playing a ton better to get multiple wins from Colorado State, Arizona State, and Stanford.

On the flip side, the Beavers should be cruising at this point in the season, gearing up for the final heavyweight matchups of the season against Washington and Oregon in the final two weeks. OSU was caught by surprise in Boulder two seasons ago and there are a lot of guys still on the roster who likely remember that matchup well...

I expect Colorado to be better offensively this season, but the defense will still be a big-time work in progress and the Beavers should be able to get whatever they want offensively in this matchup.

OSU avoids a potential trap game and cruises in Boulder...

PREDICTION - Oregon State 52, Colorado 24