Coach Deion Sanders’ Big 12 Media Days speech was coated with so much confidence that it would make fans expect nothing less than the 2024 performance of the Buffs. However, his promise of a revived Colorado team in the 2026 season may prove empty, as things do not look good for the team. The program’s strength of schedule has become a significant obstacle that could prevent Sanders from having a successful season.

“I would guess, Dan, that Colorado is the only power conference team that’s going to play two power four road games in the non-conference this year. They go to Georgia Tech, and then they go to Northwestern. In theory, those are coin flip games, right? If you play Colorado School of Mines, the coin is split a little bit differently. They are scheduled to fail, and Rick George left them with that,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel told Dan Wetzel on the July 10 episode of the College GameDay podcast.

“Some of it’s pro-market, right? You got to get bu-ts in the seat, all that kind of stuff. So, Colorado is always scheduled pretty aggressively. That’s a pretty tough slug. When you go to Atlanta, you have Weber State at home, come back, and then you go to Northwestern before you open up league play on the road at Baylor. And that will certainly be a game where the losing coach will very likely be under a heat lamp.”

When it comes to conference games, there is almost nothing programs can do regarding the difficulty of the matchups. However, non-conference games are a breath of fresh air, a sigh of relief for Power Four programs, who all have nine conference games to play starting in the 2026 season. But with Colorado, its non-conference games may end up being its greatest undoing.

In three non-conference games, the program is the only one in the nation to have two away games against Power Four opponents. They face the Northwestern Wildcats and Georgia Tech on the road in 2026. Moreover, Coach Prime wasn’t even the head coach when former AD Rick George scheduled these tough non-conference matchups around eight years ago. He has moved to a different role, while the head coach will now have to deal with the consequences.

Currently, the Buffaloes do not have a proven team; all they have is a team trying to rise from defeat. As such, facing Georgia Tech, Weber State, Northwestern, Baylor, and Texas Tech in his first five games may lead to Sanders being fired before mid-season. And while he has made some coaching changes, got some decent players from the portal, and spoken about the return of his “swagger” and “dawg,” 2026 has a huge test ahead for Sanders’ $54 million job at Boulder.

Cignetti established a winning formula in college football, leading the Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship. He had highly favorable non-conference matchups, giving him the No. 3 easiest schedule in the nation, per Pro Football Focus. And while he delivered when it mattered most in the College Football Playoff, having it easy in the regular season was a crucial part of his success.

James Franklin is trying to follow the same method at Virginia Tech after utilizing it at Penn State. Dan Lanning’s Oregon does the same. On the other hand, Steve Sarkisian’s Texas has been lamenting having had to play Ohio State in non-conference play last year. While viewership and giving fans a better product matter, the perspective is different for a head coach. Over a dozen Power 4 head coaches were fired last season, and if you can ensure some wins against easy non-conference opponents, why shouldn’t you?