The math explains the mess.
The odds show the disrespect.
CU hosts Kansas State on Saturday as an underdog despite the Wildcats facing complete uncertainty at quarterback. Avery Johnson is out, backup Jacob Knuth (ankle) remains doubtful, leaving former Erie High School standout Blake Barnett and Dillon Duff as little-used options to start.
Will the Wildcats run the Wildcat?
This feels like the Broncos’ COVID-19 quarterback game against the Saints when running back Phillip Lindsay took the first snap and receiver Kendall Hinton tried his luck after that. It was an unmitigated disaster.
The Wildcats, too, are compromised.
If coach Deion Sanders cannot beat Kansas State, what’s the point?
The Buffs are riding a five-game losing streak. They are 5-15 in their last 20 games overall and 2-15 against Power Four conference teams since December 2024.
They are terrible. And what the line says is even worse.
Kansas State is a 2-point favorite. That screams that the wise guys believe in Collin Klein more than Sanders. Digest that for a minute.
They like Klein, who is in his first season. They prefer Klein, a former Loveland High School prep star who, at 37, will be the best quarterback on Kansas State’s sideline. They believe in Klein, who has never won a road game as a head coach.
That speaks volumes of how badly things have bottomed out in Boulder for Sanders.
Klein makes $4.1 million this season. Sanders draws a $10 million salary.
If Sanders cannot beat the undermanned Wildcats, the hard question must be asked: Does it make sense to move forward? Or is it time to start a bake sale outside of Folsom Field to prepare to pay his $26 million buyout and raise enough money to pay the next coach $4 million per season?
This conjures memories of 2018 when Mike MacIntyre approached his final days. I broke the story of his firing. And while there was not a single reason, getting smoked by Washington State 31-7 at home cemented all doubts about his status.
How could the Cougars from little ol’ Pullman, Wash., make the Buffs look like a JV team? MacIntyre was fired — not before bringing a framed picture of a buffalo running into a snowstorm to a press conference as a Hail Mary — after falling to Utah the following week.
And, as a friendly reminder, MacIntyre and his predecessors Mel Tucker and Karl Dorrell had nowhere near the administrative support Sanders has been given.
If the Buffs lose what is the most remaining winnable game on the schedule, they have to win out to reach a bowl.
Giving Sanders a fifth season requires belief that things will get better.
But what evidence is there that a roster turnover will work or that CU will finally play with any discipline?
There will be none if a well-paid coach cannot lead his team to a win over a team using its third or fourth-string quarterback.
Four on the Floor: With the Milwaukee Brewers claiming the championship, only four teams have never won a World Series: the Rays, Mariners, Padres and Rockies. Will anyone 50 years or older see a Rockies title in their lifetime?
Wade makeover: Dwyane Wade is getting the respect he deserves. The head on the Miami Heat legend’s statue no longer looks like Hellboy. He had a new head screwed on straight this week in front of Kaseya Center.
Chief motivation: While the Broncos are driven to avenge their season-opening embarrassment, the Chiefs desperately want a bounce back. It’s hard to imagine with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, but Kansas City was historically bad in last week’s loss to Seattle. They are the first team in the Super Bowl era to have multiple missed field goals, no 10-plus yard rushes, no 20-yard-plus passes, no red zone drives, and no touchdowns, per Opta Stats.
AFC? Anyone? Hello? The NFC contenders — Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco — have made huge trades. Are the Broncos really going to sit on their hands again like they did in the offseason?
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