The Colorado Buffaloes might need to try something different in the wake of the Utah loss

Deion Sanders is arguably the most entertaining college coach to cover. Sitting in his press room is different than most other programs in the country. He runs his program how he runs his program and that tends to rub some people the wrong way. Gamedays are exciting, press conferences are never boring and they constantly preach consistency and belief.

Sanders has built a who’s who of a coaching staff with excessive amounts of NFL experience. Many of which he has had strong relationships with for decades before adding them to the Colorado coaching staff. He probably has the best guest speakers list of any coach in college football. They recruit the players they believe fit what they want to do regardless of star rating. They have a way of doing things they believe will be successful.

Belief can be a driving force. Belief can help motivate players. Belief on its own doesn’t win football games though. I can believe I am tall, skinny with a healthy hairline, but no matter how much I believe that it just isn’t true. Steady as it goes, is not working. Doing the same thing but harder and better is not working. Execution in areas this team is supposed to be good at is not working.

Expectation is the mother of frustration. Fans expected Kaidon Salter to be a threat as a dual threat quarterback. In 2025 the best way to describe Salter has been indecisive about being a dual threat. The receiving core was expected to pick up where 2024 left off, despite losing their top 5 receiving options. The offensive line was expected to be improved and it has been. There was an expectation that the running game would be dominant or at least dramatically improved. The defensive front was expected to be better at stopping the run.

Many of those factors have fallen short of the expectation leaving the public at large to cast certain aspersions about the program and its direction. The question becomes, at what point do they start considering different options? Not the adding or removing of personnel but mixing up the plan.

Something needs to change, but the change doesn't need to be drastic  

At the midway point of the season, Colorado has started two of the three quarterbacks to varying degrees of success. Salter has had good games and bad games. Long time backup Ryan Staub started a game and played almost another half in backup duty, while having success moving the offense. Yet, no real indication to start or play significantly the former USC commit Sanders famously flipped. Why does starting Julian Lewis seem like it’s not an option?

Moving Dre’lon Miller to full-time running back was a very interesting decision that many supported. Yet, he only has 17 carries on the season (some of that has been due to injury). Running back has also been by committee for the most part. There can be a benefit to that. Keeping fresh legs and substituting in waves. However, many good running backs get better as the game goes on. Dre’lon Miller and Dallan Hayden are both bigger backs that could wear down a team if given the requisite number of carries.

Tight Ends are not a focal point of the offense as weapons. That’s not a shot, it’s just what it is. The number of impactful plays made by CU tight ends in three years is less than ten. If they are not going to factor in as much as pass catchers in the offensive gameplan, why not utilize them as an extra blocker? Why not use a TE like Georgia used to use Darnell Washington? A TE by position, but he served as almost a 6^th offensive lineman.

These are just a few basic concepts. Concepts that very well could have a good reason why they haven't been considered. What happened against Utah feels like a 'come together and figure out something else' situation. There is mutual respect between Sanders and Whittingham. That might be the only reason that winning score did not exceed the 50s. Utah has been a solid, fundamentally sound program almost as long as Whittingham has been there. The Utes did not win in a route because the Utah players are far and away better than the Colorado players, from a talent standpoint. Or at least the gap in talent is not 53-7 better.

Firing coaches, benching good players, changing the play caller are all popular knee jerk reactions to bad performances. This situation might call for something different. Nothing drastic or permanent, but perhaps something creative or stylistically different than they are used to. At some point Einstein’s definition of insanity sets in and doing something different becomes a realistic idea that could impact outcomes.

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