Game at a Glance
Matchup: Colorado Buffaloes at Utah Utes
Kickoff: 1 p.m. MT
Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City
Capacity: 51,444. Playing surface: FieldTurf.
TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: KOA (850 AM)
Odds: Utah by 20.5
Series: Utah leads 34-32-3
It would be easy for the Colorado football team to shut down mentally this week.
At 4-7, the Buffaloes can’t finish with a winning record and won’t be playing in a bowl game. They’re also riding a five-game losing streak as they head into Saturday’s finale at Utah.
Oh, and they might be without their most important player, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who is hurting and may not play in Salt Lake City.
The Buffs insist, however, that they’ve got plenty to play for this week, including pride.
“That’s the biggest thing,” linebacker LaVonta Bentley said. “We started with a win versus TCU (on Sept. 2) and we’ve got to end that way and that’s the main thing. I feel like the guys came in (this week) ready to get better, not pouting or down on themselves and stuff like that. We’ve got one more game. It’s a pride game, so we’ve got to go out there and win.”
Bentley came to CU used to winning. He played the previous four seasons at Clemson, which has been a national power for years, so this season has been new for him and many other first-year Buffs.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “Coming from Clemson – win, win, win. … But, for me, I just know I gotta show up every day, each and every day. No matter win or loss, I still gotta get the job done for the next opponent. You’ve got to control what you can control once you’re out there. I know for me, I’m gonna get my best foot forward each and every day to try to get better. My goal is to get to the NFL so I know each game counts and I know the little things matter, so I can learn from this game tape (from last week against Washington State) to try to get better for the next game.”
In some ways, this year has been a success for the Buffs. Head coach Deion Sanders was hired nearly one year ago to resurrect a program that hit the bottom with a 1-11 record in 2022. In 10 of those 11 losses, CU was blown out and not even competitive.
After a 3-0 start to this year, the hype got a bit out of control, which has made the current 4-7 record a disappointment. But, the Buffs already have three more wins than last year and they were competitive in five of the seven losses.
“We didn’t accomplish what we wanted, but we accomplished what we needed,” Sanders said. “I think hope is instilled tremendously in this city, in the student body, within this team, within this building, and you see the direction that we’re headed. So the things that you look to as a loss, some kind of way I see it as a win.
“We didn’t do certainly what I wanted to do but we’re doing tremendously much more than what was done. So you got to put it in perspective. There’s some things that we accomplished that are tremendous; there’s some things that we didn’t. But we’re taking a step in the right direction, two steps in the right direction, as a matter of fact. I’m proud of these young men, I’m proud of the coaching staff, the student body, and the support. The fans nationally, not just locally, has been phenomenal.”
Throughout the season, even when the Buffs were winning, Sanders has often talked about the future of the program being bright. That message hasn’t changed even through the struggles.
“We pretty much put a mark in college football,” he said. “What we’re gonna do from here on, it will never be the same, I promise you that, because I know how we’re recruiting. I know what I know. And I know where we’re headed. You got to be crazy if you can’t see it.”
Prior to turning the page to the future, though, the Buffs aren’t waving a white flag for Saturday’s trip to Salt Lake City.
“We’ve been preaching just to finish this week,” edge defender Arden Walker said. “We want to end on a good note to have something to look forward to for next year.”
In the grand scheme, a win Saturday may not mean much. But a win would be valuable to the players that have battled all season.
“Winning is hard. I learned that from coach,” Bentley said. “Celebrate the small wins, no matter how you did it because at the end of the day winning is hard.
“(Beating Utah would) mean a lot to us because of what we’ve been through throughout the season. Everybody wants to win at the end of the day. So you know, we get that done, we did something, did what we came to do.”