“Ridiculous”: Big12 Polls Under Fire for Ranking Deion Sanders’ Colorado 11th Despite 127 Years of NFL Experience

What a shocking news! The Big 12 Championship poll results gave Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes something as low as the 11th rank. But not to worry Buffs fans, the Locked On College Football podcast is here with some silver lining. The podcast host, Spencer McLaughlin, was also not convinced about the fact that Deion would overturn the narrative all of a sudden. However, there lies some hope of improving their position.

Hardly did the Buffaloes expect their 127 years of NFL experience to give such a heartbreaking outcome. Will they use this as their weapon to hit the rebound button?

McLaughlin counting on Deion’s efforts for a turnaround

Members of the media revealed their 2024 preseason Big 12 football rankings on July 2. And soon came the bad news for Deion’s program. The group of 61 members came to the joint decision that Colorado would finish at No.11. Not even for a day did Coach Prime shy away from admitting the loopholes that are prevalent in his program. As raised by the host, “Colorado at 11s is ridiculous because if you’re a 4 and 8 team you have some close losses”. 

But Deion has made some significant changes in the roster. He ensured to highlight the problems that plagued the Buffs last season, “Their offensive line has to take a step forward. It was one of the worst I’ve ever seen in college football last year.” McLaughlin, however, ended with a positive take, “So if you just are a little bit better that’s got to be worth at least two wins. That’s the way I look at it. I think Colorado is a bull team this year.” Deion now counts on five-star recruits and big shots like Jordan Seaton, Tyler Johnson, and Justin Mayers. Not just the players, the Buffs coaching playbook has been packed with league legends for 127 years.  

Colorado’s coaching roster, a wealth of experience

The current coaching roster of Colorado boasts a total of 11 coaches with a a history of 127 years of experience. Deion is the fortunate owner of a coaching line consisting of 12 former NFL players who have been in the limelight for making 15 Pro Bowl appearances (combined) backed up by four Super Bowl titles. Not only this. Colorado has been lucky to have four coaches with a total of 42 years of coaching experience in the NFL. Out of which two of them stand out, Pat Shurmur (1999-2021) and defensive coordinator Robert Livingston (2012-2023).

The latest addition that Deion banks on is the Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, who joined Colorado as a grad assistant. He has been in the NFL for 13 long seasons and even after his long tenure; he finished his career with a record of 96 ½ sacks. Offensive line was one of the most talked about positions last season, along with the players Coach Prime had to boost the coaching role.

The Buffs HC revamped the O-Line, starting with the inclusion of Pat Shurmur into the Buffaloes squad as the offensive coordinator. Having an experience of 11 years as the HC and 21 seasons as the NFL player was enough to woo Deion Sanders. But Coach Prime did not just ignore the defensive line and added Robert Livingston as the new defensive coordinator who made a winning record in two of the past three seasons scouting for Cincinnati Bengals.