Reading The Tea Leaves

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Reading The Tea Leaves

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Ever had your tea leaves read?

Neither have I, but the practice has been around for millennia.

Tea leaf reading, or Tasseography, has been attributed to the Chinese, who have long held a deep adoration of tea and its beneficial qualities.

Fortune tellers began to notice patterns and shapes left in their cups after drinking tea and interpreted them as prophecies and messages of the past, present and future. The practice spread and developed during the seventeenth century when Dutch merchants introduced tea to Europe. As a cheap method of fortune-telling, it only required a cup of tea, and so became increasingly popular as both a means to tell the future and a method of entertainment.

Reading the tea leaves – the residue – of CU’s 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech can be a little dangerous.

In Game One of Year One of the Coach Prime era, the Buffs, a 20.5-point underdog to No. 17 TCU, won 45-42. The Buffs immediately became a national story, and were nationally ranked.

At the end of the season … CU was 4-8, finishing the year on a seven-game losing streak.

In Game One of Year Two of the Coach Prime era, the Buffs, a 9.5-point favorite over North Dakota State from the FCS, needed a tackle at the four-yard line on the game’s final play to preserve a 31-26 victory.

At the end of the season … CU was 9-4, finishing with the program’s second Heisman Trophy winner.

Which is a long way of saying, what happened in Folsom on Friday night in the 2025 season opener should not be considered the final word on how the remainder of the campaign will play out.

We’ve waited eight long months for the Buffs to take the field, which gave the Buff Nation way too long to dissect what was to be expected from the 2025 CU football team.

Despite coming off of a 9-4 season, with CU’s 7-2 Big 12 record tied for the best in the conference, little was expected by the pundits of the 2025 Buffs. The over/under win total set by Las Vegas was the same as last season – 5.5 wins.

The concerns? There were many. Let’s go through a few of them, and see how the Buffs fared against expectations in Game One …

— Kaidon Salter is no Shedeur Sanders …

The former Liberty quarterback brought a decent resume, including 47 touchdown passes (to only 12 interceptions) over the course of the past two seasons, with a 21-5 overall record.

That being said … The last two seasons, the Buff Nation watched Shedeur Sanders set over 100 school records.

Salter finished the Georgia Tech game going 17-for-28 for 159 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball 13 times for 43 yards and another score.

Salter overthrew some passes, and made a few poor decisions. He also manufactured his touchdown pass on a scramble, personally saw to converting on a fourth-and-inches after being hit behind the line of scrimmage, and did not throw an interception. He was also sacked only once.

More can reasonably be expected from Salter in the coming weeks. Salter is not Shedeur, but we already knew that.

Oh, and anyone who believes a 17-year old quarterback, five-star or not, would have fared better against the Georgia Tech defense is mistaken.

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— CU’s rushing attack will be, as it has been, anemic …

When you finish dead last in the nation in rushing two years in a row, folks are going to notice. Coach Prime promised CU would run the “dern ball” this fall, and the Buffs did run the ball in the opener. CU’s totals against Georgia Tech were 31 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown, led by Micah Welch, who had 11 carries for 64 yards.

A total of 146 yards rushing (a 4.7 yards per carry average) is not going to make anyone think CU is the new Air Force, but do you want to hazard a guess how many games in the Coach Prime era the Buffs have surpassed that total?

Twice. In 2023, the Buffs ran for 193 yards in a 48-42 shootout loss to USC. Last season, the Buffs went for 148 rushing yards in a 34-7 win over Arizona.

The other 23 games with Coach Prime as head coach? Not so much.

Going for 146 yards on the ground is not great (it would have worked out to be a ranking of 81st nationally, using last season’s NCAA stats), but it ain’t last.

CU continues to lack a game-changing running back, but with Dallan Hayden sidelined for a few weeks with a hand injury, Micah Welch did a serviceable job against Georgia Tech.

For the CU running game, being average is actually a step in the right direction.

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— CU put four wide receivers into the NFL. There will be a significant drop off in 2025 …

Call this the “Pat Shurmur can’t game plan” category. There were a few catches by the wideouts which went for significant yardage against the Yellow Jackets, including a 39-yarder to Omarion Miller, but the CU wide outs were largely a non-factor in the game.

There is talent there, but Salter overthrew his wideouts on several occasions. Then, when CU was facing obvious passing downs, Georgia Tech blitzed, and the CU offensive line was more often than not unable to give Salter adequate time to view his downfield options.

Perhaps the Georgia Tech defense is good. Perhaps the CU offensive line remains a liability. Perhaps the wide receivers and their quarterback aren’t as good as the Buff Nation thought (hoped? expected?) they would be.

Perhaps CU’s offensive coordinator, with years of NFL experience, is entering Year Three of frustrating Buff fans with a game plan that is, at best, curious, and at worst, one which will doom CU to a losing season.

Speaking of the offensive line …

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— CU’s offensive line has been rebuilt – again – and has much to prove …

As with much of the CU offense, the offensive line is still very much a “To Be Determined” unit. There were positive notes: The Buffs did rush for 146 yards after averaging in the 60s the last two seasons, and only one sack was surrendered (CU averaged 3.31 sacks per game last year; 124th nationally).

There were also negative notes, which glaringly includes the Buffs’ continued inability to convert on third-and-short. Whether the CU offensive coordinator doesn’t have faith in his line, or knows his line can’t generate enough push to generate a first down by simply running up the middle, too many times CU’s drives were cut short by the inability of the offense to convert on third down.

CU left tackle Jordan Seaton is a monster, and a leader. Seaton not only was making blocks well downfield on run plays, he was often applauding – or berating – his fellow lineman on a regular basis.

This offensive line has the most talent of the Coach Prime era. They may just need a few games playing together to jell.

For now it’s a “wait-and-see” …

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— CU’s defensive front has been touted as one of the best in the nation, but we’ll have to see it to believe it …

Kent State was last in the nation in rushing defense in 2024, giving up an average of 264.9 rushing yards per game.

Colorado surrendered 320 rushing yards to Georgia Tech. Even if CU stuffs the opponents the next few games, it will take weeks, if not the rest of the season, for CU to climb out of the 100s nationally in rushing defense.

Now, Haynes King may prove to be the best option quarterback the Buffs will face all season. But the CU coaching staff knew of King’s ability before the game, and had weeks – if not months – to scheme for him … and failed miserably.

When forced to pass, King was average at best, but the problem for the CU defense is that the Buffs rarely forced King into passing situations. The Yellow Jackets ran all over the Buffs, and, when Georgia Tech was faced with a third-and-two, no one in the sell-out crowd of 52,868 had any doubt that the Yellow Jackets would have the ability to convert.

Like the Kansas game last year, the Buffs were bullied by a power rushing team. CU was supposed to be able to counter Georgia Tech’s strength by having a deep roster of talented defensive linemen, who could remain fresh by shuttling in and out during the game.

Considering that Georgia Tech had scoring drives of 84, 80, 75 and 61 yards, it was the CU defensive line left gasping for air, not the Yellow Jacket offensive line playing at altitude for the first time.

Perhaps the CU defensive linemen got tired running on and off the field …

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The Buffs’ lack of talent and depth at linebacker will be the downfall for CU in 2025 …

This was a problem going in, and everyone knew it. CU had a grand total of two good inside linebackers last season, Nikhai Hill-Green and LaVonta Bentley. Both were quality players, and both, to CU’s good fortune, stayed healthy all season.

Both are also now gone.

Their replacements, Reginald Hughes (11 tackles, 9 solo) and Martavius French (six tackles, one tackle for loss) led the team in tackles against Georgia Tech, but the tackles came way too far down field.

The storyline this off-season was that the CU defensive line was solid, as was the secondary, but the Buff defense was going to go only so far as defensive coordinator could get his linebackers to go.

That still holds true …

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CU’s coaching staff is filled with former NFL players, but playing talent doesn’t translate to coaching talent …

When you lose a home game, it’s tough on the home fans. That’s especially true when it’s a game at home which you could have won. A game in which the defense gave the offense three turnovers in the first three drives of the game (for the first time in school history). A game which was a one-score, one-play game down to the final Hail Mary.

The Buffs were out-played and out-game-planned. That’s on the coaching staff. The CU defense, while surrendering only 13 first half points, didn’t force a punt until the second half. The CU offense, after scoring on its first drive, didn’t generate another first down until the second quarter, three drives later.

The Buffs had their chances. Down 13-10 midway through the third quarter, the Buffs were down had a first-and-goal at the Georgia Tech five yard line. A touchdown would have given CU the lead, and much needed momentum for the rest of the game. Instead, three plays netted a loss of six yards and a field goal.

Despite getting run over most of the game, CU never trailed by more than a single score. The game was there to be won. And that, in the end, comes down to coaching.

It’s way too early to consider CU’s assembled coaching staff ineffective.

But it’s not too early to be frustrated.

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Reading tea leaves is a centuries old practice. Still, most people give very little credence in the practice of viewing tea leaves as a means of predicting the future.

As with CU’s first two seasons, the first game of the campaign is not enough of a sample size to draw any real conclusions as to how the rest of the season will play out.

What we do know is that there is talent on this team. What we do know is that, with no clearly dominant teams in the Big 12, that CU’s season is far from over.

We also know that, in all likelihood, the Buffs will likely be playing in a number of one-score contests, and will have to come together as a team to figure out how to win more often than they lose.

It’s going to be a roller coaster ride of emotions this fall … so buckle up.

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This post, about the Georgia Tech game, from the 2025 Season, is filed under Article.
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