"They lost a Heisman and a top 3 QB": CFB fans react as Deion Sanders' Colorado goes unranked in AP Top 25 Poll rankings

When Deion Sanders took over at Colorado, the Buffaloes were coming off a 1-11 season. In his first year as head coach in 2023, Coach Prime improved their record to 4-8 and then built on that with a 9-4 finish in 2024.

Despite the strong 2024 season, Colorado did not crack the AP Top 25 Poll, even as fellow Big 12 programs Arizona State, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Kansas State earned spots. Bleacher Report called their omission “disrespectful,” following the dramatic turnaround Sanders had achieved.

However, the drop in rankings was somewhat expected, as Colorado is entering a transition period after losing key talent to the NFL, including 2024 Heisman winner Travis Hunter, quarterback Shedeur Sanders and six other major contributors such as receivers Jimmy Horn Jr. and Will Sheppard.

Many fans agreed that the AP snub reflected those departures.

"Well I mean They lost a Heisman and a top 3 QB," a fan said.

Fans react as Colorado goes unranked in AP Top 25 Poll rankings

"They lost everyone why is this news?" one quipped.

"Well they just two of the greatest football players to walk into the state of Colorado right? Jerseys retired and everything," a person wrote.

"They lost their best players," a netizen said.

However, Coach Prime is known for his robust nature and is busy in overseeing a starting quarterback battle between incoming Julian Lewis, Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub to ensure a successful transition.

Fans remain confident in Sanders’ leadership.

"He's in a the rebuilding stage that all sports teams go through. He'll come out on top regardless with his impact on and off the field. Coach will always win in the end!" a fan said.

"Got a lot to prove. Preseason rankings mean nothing," one added.

The AP poll ranked Texas first (1,552 votes), followed by Penn State (1,547) and defending champion Ohio State (1,472).

AP Poll snub doesn’t dim Colorado's optimism under Deion Sanders

In 2016, Colorado finished 10-4, and Deion Sanders nearly matched the benchmark eight years later in Boulder with a nine-win season in 2024.

Despite earning just a single vote in the AP Top 25 to open the 2025 season, Sanders’ last week's remarks have injected optimism among Buffaloes fans.

"The next phase is we're going to win differently, but we're going to win," Sanders said (via ESPN). "I don't know if it's going to be the Hail Mary's at the end of the game, but it's going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football."

Colorado will kick off its season on Aug. 29, hosting Georgia Tech.

About the author

Maliha is a High School Sports news and listicles writer at Sportskeeda. A post graduate in Management Information Systems, it was her love for writing and sports which led her down the path of sports content creation. An experienced NBA and NFL writer, she covered the two sports extensively at SportsZion and SportsKnot before joining SportsKeeda.

Maliha is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and is in awe of quarterback Lamar Jackson's dual-threat abilities. She also admires Tom Brady and her all-time favorite coach is 3-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid. She is a big advocate of high school sports and believes that elite athletes reach a top level owing to the discipline, hard work, team dynamics, resilience, adaptability and self-confidence learnt by playing sports in high schools. Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay Packers to victory on his debut against the Minnesota Vikings is one of her fondest NFL memories.

Maliha places a high emphasis on accuracy in her content. She does thorough research, always double checks facts, and only uses information from most relevant and credible sources for her articles. When not writing, she likes to read history and biographical books.

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