The Surprising Thing Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham Said About Deion Sanders, Colorado

As Wittingham noted, the 3-4 record has been forged by an extremely difficult schedule. The five Power Four opponents faced by the Buffaloes—Georgia Tech, Houston, BYU, TCU, and Iowa State—hold a staggering aggregate record of 30-5.

This slate is one of the most statistically tough schedules in college football. It fully validates Coach Prime’s consistent confidence that his program is competitively sound, despite some of the late-game blunders.

"We're right there. We're not a bad football team,” Coach Prime noted. “I'm not saying we're a great football team, but we're not a bad football team. We're better than we're playing."

The combined 25-3 record of the four teams that defeated Colorado shows that the losses have come against elite, undefeated or highly-ranked teams. This strength of schedule has certainly prevented a more favorable win-loss record for the Buffaloes.

Quarterback Instability

The difficulty of a win vs the Utes has changed drastically when it was revealed that Utah’s quarterback, Devon Dampier, might miss the game with an injury. Dampier’s absence would remove his 442 rushing yards—a huge loss for Utah’s run-first offense. Coach Whittingham admitted the injury might force a major change to their "QB run game."

True freshman Byrd Ficklin has looked good in limited time, but his lack of experience starting in a high-pressure rivalry game is a clear weakness for Utah.

If Ficklin starts, it gives the Buffaloes a clear window for an upset against the 5-2 Utes. Facing an unproven backup gives the Colorado defense some valuable grace, and a chance to play aggressively to prove they can dominate another Big 12 opponent.

At the same time, Colorado coach Deion Sanders confirmed an injured running back will return against Utah, expected to be either Simeon Price or Drelon Miller. Getting one of them back is going to be crucial for the offense to take pressure off Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter.

The Final Five

Since the tough early schedule is over, the Buffaloes now have a much clearer path to their second straight bowl game.

The remaining five regular-season opponents (Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas State, and West Virginia) hold a combined record of 19-16. This is a much softer back stretch compared to there initial 30-5 gauntlet.

Beating Utah is an immediate and non-negotiable step. A win would move Colorado to 4-4, and give them a critical head-to-head tiebreaker in the middle of the Big 12 standings. Everything the Buffaloes have been working toward comes down to turning that hard-earned win over Iowa State, into some serious momentum over the final five games.