BOUDLER – Giving Shedeur Sanders even less than a minute at the end of the first half wasn’t the first mistake Cincinnati made on a crisp fall night at Folsom Field.
But it was certainly its biggest.
A 4th-and-1 defensive stop quickly turned into Travis Hunter’s second touchdown catch of the game. With a 34-23 over the Bearcats, the 2024 CU Buffs are now bowl eligible. But more importantly, these are not last year’s Buffs.
There is no big lead against Stanford that evaporates. There is a toughness in the defense that can keep CU competitive in any game.
And there’s even a lot more we before me when it comes to Shedeur’s quarterbacking. Sure he threw for 219 yards and a pair of scores in the first half. But he also had no issue handing the ball off to Isaiah Augustave who was running for 4.4 yards per carry. And when the time was right, he got the ball in Travis Hunter’s hands for a pair of touchdowns.
Run first, strike big.
These are the Buffs that many envisioned the day Deion Sanders walked into CU’s meeting with 2 Pac singing “All Eyez on Me.”
Don’t look now, but more eyes will be on the Buffs. Maybe not in television audience sense, but certainly from a poll voting perspective. And with poll votes comes the attention needed for the College Football Playoff.
Ok, maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Or are we?
Since suffering a 28-10 loss to Nebraska that felt more like 48-10, these Buffs have figured something out. Bowl eligibility at that time felt like the ceiling of the team’s potential. With four games remaining and a bowl appearance firmly in hand, it’s time for Coach Prime’s kids to aim higher.
Shedeur should be entering the Heisman conversation on a night that he started the game 13-for-13, the school record for most consecutive completions to start a game.
That Heisman conversation, however, still starts with Hunter. It’s become routine to see him defending passes on defense, catching passes on offense and now web-slinging his way to touchdown celebrations.
For the team, the Big 12 is firmly in play. All the Buffs can do is take care of their own business over the next few weeks and see where the cards fall. It wouldn’t be a shock for CU to be getting votes in the AP and coaches polls. Wins over Texas Tech and Utah in the coming weeks would likely move the Buffs into the top 25.
At 6-2, there’s no telling where this team ends up. But one thing is for certain, a downward trend doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
With four games remaining on the schedule, a balanced offense and a team-first focus, Coach Prime’s Buffs are on the rise.
