Colorado has already done something it failed to do often enough last season. They have already won two games. The Buffaloes opened 2026 with a 14-13 escape at Georgia Tech and followed it with a 52-21 win over Weber State. Now, building on this momentum, Deion Sanders’ family friend Shannon Sharpe wants them to do better than their three-win season last year.
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QB Julian Lewis has looked far more comfortable in the second game, and the offense has shown enough explosiveness to give Deion Sanders reasons to feel better about the team. But Shannon Sharpe still sees a problem that could follow Colorado into Big 12 play.
“They struggled with Utah last year,” Sharpe said on his September 13 NightCap podcast. “Buffs got to do better.”
Last year, the team did struggle. After their first win in Week 2, they had to wait all the way till Wee 4 for their second win, and then the 24-17 win against Iowa State in Week 7 would go on to be their final win of the season.
“They had 13 penalties for 107 yards,” Sharpe continued on the podcast. “And two turnovers. Look, they only won three games last year. They’re two-and-0 right now. So hopefully, you know, they can get to a bowl game.”
Colorado scored 52 points and produced 578 total yards against Weber State, but the Buffaloes also gave the Wildcats 13 chances to benefit from penalties. Weber State finished with 372 yards, far more offense than Colorado should want to surrender in a game it controlled from the opening minutes. The turnovers were avoidable too.
Lewis lost a fumble in the first quarter after Colorado had forced a three-and-out on Weber State’s opening possession. Later, Boo Carter fumbled a punt at the end of the first half and gave Weber State the ball at Colorado’s 20-yard line with 13 seconds remaining. The Buffaloes escaped that sequence without giving up points, but the mistake was still there. Thankfully, Lewis made sure neither mistake changed the result.
The redshirt freshman QB threw for 366 yards and four touchdowns and added a rushing touchdown. He completed 17 of 23 passes and had already thrown three touchdown passes before the first quarter ended. Joseph Williams caught two of those scores, while DeAndre Moore Jr. opened the game with a 66-yard touchdown. But that can’t be the same against teams like Utah, Texas Tech, or Baylor.
Colorado did not need Lewis to rescue it against Weber State. The offense had already built a 42-14 halftime lead. But the same level of sloppiness will not be so easy to survive against a stronger opponent. And the 2025 Utah game already showed Coach Prime the blowback effects of the exact sloppiness.
Colorado’s 2025 trip to Utah turned into the worst loss of Sanders’ tenure. The Utes won 53-7 after running for 422 yards and piling up 587 total yards. Colorado finished with just 140 total yards, including 38 rushing. The Buffaloes also had no takeaways and allowed Utah to sack the quarterback seven times. The problems went beyond one poor performance.
The offensive line could not keep the quarterback clean. The defense struggled to slow Utah on the ground. The offense also kept putting itself in bad situations. It fell to 3-9 after the loss and finished Sanders’ third season with one of the worst records in the country among teams that had entered the year with far greater expectations. But now, things have also positively changed for Sanders.
Coach Prime made changes after that season. Colorado brought in new coordinators, including Brennan Marion on offense, and rebuilt parts of the roster through the transfer portal. The expectation was to make the team more physical and more consistent after the 3-9 collapse. The early returns are encouraging.
Colorado rushed for 183 yards against Georgia Tech and held the Yellow Jackets to only 51 rushing yards in the opener. Lewis then exploded against Weber State. Those are signs of a team that can play differently from last year’s group.
But Colorado has already needed late-game heroics once.
Against Georgia Tech, Lewis put together a late touchdown drive and found Charlie Williams for the go-ahead score with 42 seconds left. Boo Carter blocked Georgia Tech’s field-goal attempt as the clock ran out.
It was a big road win for Colorado, but the game was close enough to show how little room the Buffaloes had for mistakes. The next game should give a clearer picture of where this team stands.
Colorado travels to face Northwestern on Sept. 19. The Wildcats opened their season with a 34-18 win over South Dakota State and produced 224 rushing yards. Quarterback Aidan Chiles threw for 273 yards and also ran for a touchdown, while Joseph Himon II broke an 80-yard touchdown run.
Despite all the hopes, though, Sharpe expects Colorado to finish with enough wins to make it to a “bowl game.” And that would still be “huge” for Sanders’ team.