Colorado delivered its biggest victory in nearly two decades on Friday night, knocking off No. 14 Houston 42-32 and ending the Cougars' hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff.
The win was the Buffaloes' first over a top-15 opponent since 2007, and it lifted them to 4-6 on the season, guaranteeing an improvement over last year's 3-9 finish.
For fourth-year head coach Deion Sanders, the performance could hardly have come at a better time. Questions about his job security had been building for the past two seasons, especially after the program slipped from a 9-4 campaign in 2024, when Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders led the way, to a three-win season once both stars were gone.
Life without Hunter and Sanders has been rough for the Buffaloes, and Coach Prime had struggled to prove he could build something lasting in Boulder without them. Until Friday night, he had no signature result to offer as evidence that progress was being made.
The financial picture had already made a coaching change extremely difficult, if not outright impossible. Sanders received a massive contract extension after that 9-4 season in 2024 and would be owed $25.5 million if fired after the 2026 season, money the school does not have sitting in a rainy-day fund. Colorado effectively needed Sanders to decide to walk away on his own, and he has insisted he is the right man for the job and capable of turning things around.
Sanders had maintained that his team was showing all the right things in practice and doing all the right things off the field. But what matters to fans is what shows up in games, and before Nov. 13 the Buffaloes had yet to make a real statement.
There had been close calls, including a 27-24 home loss to a Utah team that is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. That offered a glimpse of what was possible, but there have been too many losses in Boulder for Sanders to lean on moral victories in defeat.
Friday's upset gives Sanders and Colorado fans a chance to exhale after a season in which many seemed resigned to another year near the bottom of the Big 12 with no clear exit strategy in sight. The Buffaloes were likely to stick with Sanders regardless because of the finances, but a win over a playoff contender makes it a much easier pitch to ask fans to support the program heading into his fifth year in charge.
