pulling away from Delaware<\/a> for the first win of the season in week two, the Buffs shook off a slow start at Houston to take the momentum into halftime with two straight touchdown drives. CU left that momentum in the locker room, getting outscored 20-6 in the second half.<\/p>\nThe Buffs evened their record at 2-2 by defeating Wyoming, but only after the Cowboys trimmed a 28-3 CU lead down to 30-20. And in the loss against BYU, CU jumped to a quick and impressive 14-0 lead before getting outscored 24-7 the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Buffs fans already are aware of what\u2019s in store the next few weeks with a run of games at TCU, home against No. 14 Iowa State, and at Utah, which currently is just outside the top 25 and will be coming off consecutive games against No. 25 Arizona State and No. 23 BYU when the Buffs arrive on Oct. 25. A bowl berth looks less probable with every toe-stubbing performance by the Buffs, but they won\u2019t have a chance at that kind of run until it finally puts together a full four-quarter effort.<\/p>\n
Flag fest<\/p>\n
Head coach Deion Sanders vowed the Buffs would be an improved bunch from the team that was one of the most penalized squads in the nation last year.<\/p>\n
Technically, that\u2019s happened. But CU is trending the wrong direction.<\/p>\n
Powered largely by a wave of pass interference penalties, the Buffs have collected 11 penalties for 120 yards over the past two games. That\u2019s close to the pace CU put up last year, when it ranked last in the Big 12 in penalties per game (7.7) and penalty yards per game (67.8). Those numbers put CU at No. 120 out of 133 FBS teams nationally.<\/p>\n
Overall, the Buffs have been better, and they go into this week\u2019s date at TCU averaging 5.2 penalties for 50.0 yards per game. Those marks rank seventh in the Big 12. However, the Buffs have drawn six flags in each of their two Big 12 games, and had at least five penalties in four of five games this season.<\/p>\n
Unlike last year, however, the Buffs don\u2019t have players like Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to gloss over the occasional ill-advised flag. This year, the margin for error is much thinner. The recent penalty spike driven by the rash of pass interference calls seems correctible, as in most cases the CU defender had decent coverage, only to fail to look back for the ball and run through the opposing receivers.<\/p>\n
Regardless, the Buffs have to reverse the recent trend if they hope to still make a push for a bowl game.<\/p>\n
Competition commences<\/p>\n
It\u2019s doubtful Tad Boyle will declare a starting five, or what his rotation will look like, ahead of the season opener for the CU men\u2019s basketball team. But that can\u2019t stop the rest of us from speculating.<\/p>\n
My way-too-early, nothing official guess at the starting five when CU tips off its 16th season under Boyle against Montana State on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n
1: Barrington Hargress<\/p>\n
2: Felix Kossaras<\/p>\n
3: Sebastian Rancik<\/p>\n
4: Bangot Dak<\/p>\n
5: Elijah Malone<\/p>\n
The most tenuous of those selections feels like Kossaras. Yet Boyle typically goes with experience in early-season personnel decisions, and CU\u2019s head coach lauded Kossaras\u2019 steady, efficient play during the Buffs\u2019 four-game summer exhibition tour of Australia.<\/p>\n
The fight for rotation spots beyond that quintet will be one of the big storylines of the preseason. Kossaras\u2019 spot at the two-guard will likely be shared with freshmen Jalin Holland and Josiah Sanders. Freshman point guard Isaiah Johnson was the most impressive rookie in Australia. Late signee Alon Michaeli is almost certain to be part of the frontcourt rotation, and athletic freshman forward Tacko Ifaola has the frame of a veteran. Freshman wing Ian Inman has the potential to be the best 3-point shooter of the bunch.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 11 names right there, not including other potential rotation candidates like redshirt freshman guard Andrew Crawford and 7-foot-1 rookie Leonardo Van Elswyk. Eleven players might get a look in early nonconference games, but not everyone will be part of the equation when Big 12 play begins.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: September 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BuffZone writer Pat Rooney discusses three topics regarding Colorado Buffs athletics as the football team tries to shake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,18881,18882,18883,4044,1607,2662,25236,3832,9045,4142,2558,983,398,400,401,3,99],"class_list":["post-190964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-boulder","tag-boulder-county","tag-buffzone","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-football","tag-college-sports","tag-college-menu2019s-basketball","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}