"Shedeur Sanders saved them": CFB analyst predicts drastic slump for Deion Sanders' Colorado in 2025

Deion Sanders is heading into an unpredictable 2025 season, where he no longer has any of his sons leading from the front or Heisman winner Travis Hunter securing the offense. The 2024 season (9-3) was the Colorado Buffaloes' best campaign in recent years, following a 4-8 record in 2023. According to CFB insider Josh Pate, the credit goes to Shedeur Sanders, who played a vital role in Coach Prime's success in a highly competitive Big 12.

Pate analyzed the Buffs' 2025 campaign and the strength of the schedule, while believing it will be hard to see Colorado improve their 9-3 finish.

“I can't bet Colorado to be better than 9 and 3. I gotta lean that they're worse. They could overachieve and be a couple of games worse than they were last year,” Pate said on his show on Friday. [Timestamp - 2:08]

It more or less looks like a slump for the Buffs since winning 10+ games appears to be a far-fetched dream at this point. Pate mentioned that a significant part of this will depend on who starts for the team. Looking at the current scenario, it's more likely that veteran star Kaidon Salter starts for Colorado.

“It's just who's starting a quarterback. Is it Kaidon Salter starting at quarterback? That's the best guess around here right now. Shedeur saved them so much."

"When I think about Colorado in the past, Shedeur Sanders is obviously playing quarterback for him. In other words, the plays that were made that weren't drawn up on a piece of paper, they were just broken down play. You got a phenomenal athlete there, and he makes something out of nothing,” he added.

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Colorado will have challenging games in 2025 season

Without Shedeur Sanders, Jimmy Horn Jr., Will Sheppard, Travis Hunter and other star players who left for the NFL, the Colorado Buffaloes could have a tough season in the Big 12. The competition is quite intense and it remains to be seen how well they adapt to the new environment.

Looking at the 2025 schedule, the Buffs will face Houston in Week 3, BYU in Week 5, Utah in Week 8 and Arizona State in Week 11. These are some of the iconic and challenging matchups for the team. Deion Sanders and Co. will kick off 2025 with a big matchup against Georgia Tech at Folsom Field on Aug. 29.