Colorado Football Week 11 Rooting Guide: How Deion Sanders and Buffaloes make it to the College Football Playoff
After being raked over the coals on social media for collapsing after a hot start to the 2023 season, the Colorado Buffaloes have bounced back with a great 2024 campaign. The Big 12 is up for grabs, and there's a realistic chance the Buffaloes end up in the College Football Playoffs if they get a […]
After being raked over the coals on social media for collapsing after a hot start to the 2023 season, the Colorado Buffaloes have bounced back with a great 2024 campaign. The Big 12 is up for grabs, and there's a realistic chance the Buffaloes end up in the College Football Playoffs if they get a break or two.
Beyond beating Texas Tech in Lubbock this weekend, the Buffaloes need a little help. Colorado fans need to know who to root for and against entering college football's Week 11 action.
Here are the top few games from this weekend that Colorado fans must watch as the Buffaloes look to push their way into the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff field.
No. 17 Iowa State vs. Kansas
Rooting Interest: Kansas
Colorado trails BYU and is tied with Iowa State in conference play overall records, so the Buffaloes need some help. The most obvious path beyond winning out is to see the 7-1 Cyclones lost, and this week's matchup with Kansas might be a sneaky upset watch game. While the Jayhawks have stunk this year despite expectations, it's hard to fully rule out a sudden star-powered win from Jalon Daniels and Devin Neal.
The Cyclones are quite good but just lost last week. The door went from shut to slowly creaking open, so the Buffaloes need chaos to go in their favor. Seeing Iowa State slip to 4-2 in the conference would mean the Buffaloes have a straightforward path into the Big 12 title game.
No. 9 BYU vs. Utah
Rooting Interest: Utah
Just like with Iowa State, seeing BYU lose can give Colorado the shot to make the title game. It's a little less straightforward here barring a second loss for anyone, as tiebreakers come into play. However unlikely, the undefeated Cougars slipping now would give Coach Prime the chance to energize his program.
The tiebreakers start with head-to-head matchups, which would not affect Colorado since they won't have played either team in the regular season. Unfortunately, BYU won't have played Iowa State, either. This leads us to comparing win percentage against common conference opponents.
Colorado would settle for a chance to win that, but would rather control their own destiny. Two losses to BYU in the final three games or one more Iowa State loss would ensure that.
West Virginia vs. Cincinnati
Rooting Interest: Cincinnati
The next-level approach builds on my last point. Iowa State might win this week, but it's possible they lose against Cincinnati the following game. The Cyclones will be favored in Ames, but if the Bearcats can win, the Buffaloes would immediately project to make the Big 12 Championship Game.
A win or loss this week doesn't matter in the standings for Cincinnati, but maybe it affects their confidence enough to bring momentum into the following week.