Why Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes team could surprise the nation (or not)

Despite conducting the biggest offseason housecleaning in the modern era of major college football, the Colorado football team isn’t supposed to be very good this year under new head coach Deion Sanders.

The Buffaloes have too many unknown elements and a schedule that is too difficult, according to oddsmakers and other experts.

But there is a way they could be wrong and Sanders could be right after he recently said, "We’re gonna win. We’re gonna win. We’re gonna win."

Here are at least five reasons the Buffs could blast past the 3.5 wins set by oddsmakers as the over-under for their season win total. After a wild offseason of hype over "Coach Prime," they open the season Saturday at TCU with a Big Noon (ET) kickoff on FOX.

DEION SANDERS LEG INJURY: You remember the athletic freak. Now, he just wants to coach standing up.

If QB1 is as good as advertised

Sanders’ youngest son Shedeur has a 70-8 record as quarterback in high school and college, including 23-3 at Jackson State, where he also played under his father in 2021 and 2022.

He has two years of college eligibility remaining and could leave after one if he plays well enough in Boulder. His accuracy and intelligence have drawn raves in practice since transferring.

"We have an absolutely elite, I’m talking about top-level, elite quarterback," said Colorado tight ends coach Tim Brewster, who previously worked as an assistant coach in the NFL. "And the challenge for us offensively is us to meet him − meet him on his level from an intellectual basis."

Shedeur will operate a high-tempo offense that features several transfer receivers, two of whom have been heralded in recent weeks by Coach Prime and teammates: Xavier Weaver and Jimmy Horn, both from South Florida. 

"The main thing really – We’ve just got to protect the kid," Deion Sanders said of his son Aug. 4. "If we keep him upright, I can’t wait until you see what he does, especially with the receivers, the plethora of receivers that we have that can straight-out ball. And they can run like the wind."

Conversely, the risk is that the Buffs have too much riding on Shedeur Sanders. As of last week, it wasn’t even clear who will be the backup quarterback this season. The only two scholarship quarterbacks behind him were freshmen after all four quarterbacks who started games last year for Colorado transferred to other colleges.

If the roster overhaul worked

The news media who cover the Pac-12 Conference predicted Colorado would finish 11^th out of 12 teams this season. Oddsmakers also have marked the Buffs as a 20.5-point underdog at TCU.

Based on what, though?

Last year’s team?

That team is long gone after Coach Prime engineered an unprecedented roster overhaul. Only nine scholarship players out of a roster limit of 85 return from last year, when the Buffs finished 1-11 under a different coaching staff.

Coach Prime since has brought in 68 new scholarship players, including 47 transfers from other four-year colleges. Five transfers came from Florida State. Thirteen others played in the talent-rich Southeastern Conference.

Who’s to say those players aren’t good enough to beat other reshuffled teams, such as TCU, which lost its star QB from last year to the NFL draft?

"If we all went off predictions, we wouldn’t kick the ball off," Colorado defensive coordinator Charles Kelly said last month.

If the 'freak' delivers

Sophomore Travis Hunter has been described by Coach Prime as a freak athlete who has the potential to be a future Top 5 NFL draft pick on offense or defense as soon as 2025.

Hunter, 20, will play on both sides of the ball, as a receiver and cornerback, doubling his chances of single-handedly turning a game as a ball hawk with Heisman Trophy-level upside.

"Being off the field, on the sideline, is boring," Hunter said after practice this month.

He’s healthy now, too, unlike last year, when ankle problems hobbled him and limited to eight games at Jackson State, where he was the No. 1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school in Georgia.

If they do well in first two games

Colorado had the third-toughest schedule in the nation last year based on the winning percentage of past opposition. It doesn’t exactly get any easier this year, when the Buffs face eight of those same 12 teams, including the opener against TCU, which finished No. 2 in the nation last season.

Beating or playing TCU close on the road and then beating Nebraska at home Sept. 9 will change the perspective of any skeptics inside or outside the program about how well this team can do this year.

On the other hand, losing both and losing badly will test the confidence and bold proclamations that have come from Sanders before the season.

"I feel like we’re gonna not only win; we’re gonna be dominant," Sanders said in a team meeting recently, as documented on his eldest son’s YouTube channel.

After those first two games, the Buffs face Colorado State at home, then play two of their toughest opponents of the season back-to-back: at Oregon Sept. 23 and home vs. Southern California Sept. 30.

If the lines are strong enough

After the big roster renovation, the new systems won’t work if Colorado gets pushed around in the trenches. On offense, the tempo only will be as fast as its blockers can play under offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who left his job as Kent State head coach to come to Boulder. It’ll help that two of his offensive linemen from Kent State came with him to Boulder as graduate transfers: Savion Washington and Jack Bailey.

All have been hearing for months that they are blocking for Coach Prime’s son, the quarterback.

"I know that’s his son, and I know he challenges us every day to protect his son," Washington said this month. "That’s all we got to do."

On defense, Dartmouth graduate transfer Shane Cokes has shined since the spring but will need help from a strong rotation of linemen to disrupt the kinds of offenses they will play this season.

"Understanding concepts, playing faster – I think that’s been the biggest thing for us," Cokes said recently. "Like I said, everyone coming in, learning a whole new defense in the summer is not the easiest thing to do."

Neither is installing a whole new team, which includes new placekickers, new uniforms and even new theme music. The grand reveal comes Saturday in the 100-degree heat and humidity of Texas.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com.