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What to Watch For in 2026
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At his Fall Camp press conference, Coach Prime was asked about CU’s 2025 season. His response came quickly:
“We have a whole new team, we have a whole new staff, and you’re still talking about last year? We don’t think like that. I could try my best to sit here and turn my neck all the way around and it won’t go back. I’m right here, man. I’m right here, and I love the young men. I love the coaches. We even have a new AD.”
If your previous team – your third in Boulder – went 3-9, finishing with a 1-8 conference record, you might have been a little testy when it came to talking about last fall, too. The Buffs limped into this past off-season on a five-game losing streak (losing by an average score of 40-15), so perhaps it was not a bad idea on Coach Prime’s part to not want to talk about last year.
And, to an extent, Coach Prime has a point.
In putting together my roster previews (Projecting Starting Lineup: Offense) (Projecting Starting Lineup: Defense), it became clear that the 2026 Buffs are nothing like the 2025 Buffs. There are new coordinators and a brand new offense. CU will open the campaign with eight or nine new starters on offense, and 11 new starters on defense.
So, yes, Coach Prime is correct: “We have a whole new team”.
As a result, before we spend the next few weeks trying to sort out CU’s two deep roster, let’s talk big picture.
Big picture as in what other teams and games Buff fans should be paying attention to this season.
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How to Watch non-CU games this fall
My BFF Brad has long given me grief over my savant-like ability to find a rooting interest in almost any game. Put me in a sports bar on a fall Saturday afternoon, with a dozen or more games all being played out simultaneously, and I can find a way for a Buff fan to have a rooting interest in the outcome in almost every game.
Now, you first have to understand that my overriding philosophy for most college football games is “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. If a team CU is playing in the near future is on the screen, my first inclination is to cheer for their opponent.
I don’t care about “strength of schedule”, or platitudes like “iron sharpens iron”, or even Coach Mac’s “to be the best, you have to play the best”.
I just want to win.
If CU’s next opponent loses five starter to illness or injury the week before facing the Buffs … that’s fine with me.
You know what CU gets for being the only Power Four conference team to play two non-conference Power Four opponents on the road?
Nothing … except perhaps two losses.
Indiana has a non-conference slate of North Texas (with all of the Mean Green’s best players now playing for Oklahoma State), Howard, and Western Kentucky. Nebraska, which has backed out recently from home-and-home series against Oklahoma and Tennessee, this fall will take on the likes of Ohio, Bowling Green, and North Dakota.
Six non-conference home games for the Hoosiers and Cornhuskers.
No road games. Six wins.
Think Hoosier and Cornhusker fans are complaining about opening their seasons with three home walkovers? Me, neither.
Meanwhile, CU gets “credit” for tough scheduling.
Yuck.
For a program which has been wandering the desert for the past 20 seasons, I’d take Indiana’s or Nebraska’s home slate in a heartbeat.
I just want to win.
Which means, when I am watching non-CU games involving future CU opponents, I’m all in on the future Buff foe falling, and falling hard.
I will grant you that, in a world where it is important for the Big 12 as a whole to be successful, it has become more difficult to cheer against fellow conference members. But, at the end of the day, I want my Buffs to win, and if that means that the team CU is playing the following week has to lose to make my dreams of CU victories to come true, so be it.
This season, the Buffs miss the following Big 12 teams on their schedule: BYU, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State, TCU, and West Virginia.
As a result, the latter six teams largely get a pass from me when playing teams on CU’s 2026 schedule … at least until CU gets some 2026 Big 12 games under their belts.
In 2027, the Buffs face the following Big 12 opponents … Home: Arizona State; TCU; Kansas; and West Virginia. On the road, the Buffs will face Arizona, BYU, Houston, Iowa State, and UCF.
For those scoring at home, that means that, next fall, the Buffs will miss Utah, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Cincinnati.
Now, I dislike Texas Tech and everything the Red Raiders have contributed to the demise of competitive college football. I will, however, after the Buffs face Texas Tech in Boulder on October 3rd, have every reason to cheer on the Red Raiders the rest of the season. First, it’s important to the Big 12 to have a flagship school with national championship aspirations. But, for the purpose of this exercise … it’s also important that, after the Buffs play the Red Raiders in early October, CU won’t face Texas Tech again until 2028.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
It gets even more fun when you look for a rooting interest in non-conference games.
Think Week Zero this season is a bore, with only one Power Four matchup (TCU v. North Carolina in Dublin)?
Well, dig a little deeper …
CU’s Week Two opponent, Weber State, is opening up its 2026 season with a Week Zero game right up the road in Greeley, taking on Northern Colorado.
Don’t want to leave the couch to go and watch an FCS game? You can also do some Week Zero scouting in taking in the much-anticipated showdown between Colgate and Fordham.
Why would you care about a bout between the Raiders and the Rams (Colgate’s the Raiders, BTW)? Well, Colgate will be coming to Boulder to open the 2027 season next September.
It’s never too early to start thinking about next season’s opponents.
To that end …
Other teams worth tracking this fall …
— Northern Illinois. The Huskies have a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule this September, taking on Iowa and Arizona on the road, while facing FCS national championship runner-up Illinois State at home. Next September, Northern Illinois has non-conference games against Nebraska and, you guessed it, Colorado;
— Northwestern. After CU takes on Georgia Tech in the opener, Buff fans need only have a tangential interest in how the rest of the season unfolds for the Yellow Jackets. The 2026 game in Atlanta completes the home-and-home series with the Buffs, so Georgia Tech can fall off of our radar. Not so with the Northwestern Wildcats, who will be in Boulder next September. Northwestern faces a bear of a schedule this fall, with road games at Indiana, at Oregon, and at Ohio State. It will be interesting to track how the Wildcats fare this season … with an eye on next September.
Now, if you want to take an even deeper dive into what to watch for this fall, read on …
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Teams to Watch: Wisconsin, Florida State … and New Mexico
Quick quiz: What do Wisconsin and Florida State have in common?
Both of their coaches are on the hot seat this fall … and the near future of those programs could have significant impact on the near future for the Colorado football.
At Florida State, head coach Mike Norvell continues to hang on, but mostly because of a huge buyout (reportedly $45.6 million this season). Otherwise, the bloom is off the Norvell rose. After leading the Seminoles to a 13-1 record in 2023, Florida State has posted records of 2-10 and 5-7.
And the 2026 schedule does not bode well for a comeback. In addition to non-conference games against Alabama and rival Florida, Norvell’s Seminoles have road games at Miami, Louisville and Pitt, along with games against SMU and Clemson.
Not a schedule a coach on the hot seat would relish.
Meanwhile, in Madison, head coach Luke Fickell is all in on the 2026 season. Last fall, in the midst of a six-game losing streak which included back-to-back shutout losses (37-0 to Iowa; 34-0 to Ohio State), Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh met with Fickell, to see if Fickell wanted to plan for his exit – Did he want to leave now, or finish the season? Discuss a buyout? Or stick it out?
Fickell chose to stick it out, with Wisconsin finishing the season with a 4-8 record.
McIntosh and Fickell found more money for the 2026 roster, giving some reason for hope. Then, in March, McIntosh left Wisconsin for a job in the Big Ten offices, leaving Fickell exposed once again.
Fickell isn’t hiding from the heat. Earlier this summer, Fickell gave his team a quick history lesson about Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés and the 1519 conquest of the Aztec Empire, when Cortés famously scuttled his fleet of ships and any chance to retreat. It inspired the phrase “burn the boats”.
Fickell’s contract runs through March 2032 and his buyout is still close to $20 million, but in February, he declined the customary one-year rolling extension offered by the school’s athletic board to head coaches.
This fall, Wisconsin misses Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon on the schedule, but still must play USC at home, has road games against UCLA, Iowa and Penn State, together with a Labor Day opener against Notre Dame at Green Bay.
Fickell is all in … and Wisconsin fans will be watching closely.
Okay, so what does all this mean to Buff fans?
Depending on how CU’s 2026 season unfolds, the fates of Mike Norvell at Florida State and Luke Fickell at Wisconsin could play a significant role in who coaches the Buffs in 2027.
If …
The Buffs fare well in Year Four under Coach Prime, and Mike Norvell falters at Florida State, the speculation will ramp up that Coach Prime should return to his alma mater and coach the Seminoles.
Florida State clearly has more resources than does Colorado, and has a path to leave the ACC at the end of the decade. With Miami playing for a national championship last season, and Florida making a splash hire in bringing in Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall, the pressure on the FSU administration will be enormous to bring in a name for its next head coach.
And there isn’t a much bigger name in the history of Florida State football than Deion Sanders.
Yes, it will take an impressive season in Boulder this fall for Coach Prime to merit consideration, but the math isn’t difficult.
Mike Norvell is atop most “hot seat” lists, and Coach Prime is a Seminole.
So yes, I’ll be watching to see how Florida State fares this fall.
Which leads us to the second hypothetical …
If …
Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell fails in his “all in” season, and is given his walking papers, the search for a replacement will not focus on Boulder.
It will focus on Albuquerque.
Stay with me here …
One of the hottest names on the coaching carousel next offseason is likely to be New Mexico head coach Jason Eck.
It’s not easy to win at places like Idaho and New Mexico, but Eck posted three straight winning seasons in Moscow before earning Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honors in leading the Lobos to a 9-4 record last season. Another good season for New Mexico this fall would likely make Eck a strong candidate for a Power Four position.
Now … to tie this all together, we need to look at the connections Eck has had in his career.
The Luke Fickell watch at Wisconsin is significant to the future of Jason Eck because … Eck was an offensive lineman in college … at Wisconsin.
The Coach Prime watch at Colorado (whether after a good season, a poor season, or with a renewal of his health issues) is significant to the future of Jason Eck because … the athletic director who hired Eck at New Mexico … was none other than CU athletic director Fernando Lovo.
Jason Eck would be a nice fit in Boulder if Coach Prime is not the head coach at CU in 2027 … but he would also be a nice fit at Wisconsin, his alma mater.
So yes, I’ll be watching to see how Wisconsin – and New Mexico – fare this fall.
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College football is a great game.
Despite all the Buff Nation has had to endure in recent years, a trek to Folsom Field in the fall is still worth the trip.
And Coach Prime was quite correct when he said about his 2026 roster: “We have a whole new team”.
But so does everyone else.
Which gives us, as college football fans, reasons to watch.
And, if you dig a little deeper, you can always find a rooting interest in the outcome of almost any game …
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One Reply to “What to Watch for in 2026”
I believe it’s more than coach speak when Prime talks of the differences from this team and last year’s team. We all know about Prime’s health issues before last season and I have no confidence that PS ran things as well as if Prime was there… There were a lot of gold jackets and coaches with NFL playing experience, but little college coaching experience on staff last year.
This year’s additions to the staff includes a “Go-Go” Offensive Coordinator with proven college experience feels very different from the hype around the gold jackets… And the old OC was old in his ways… Meanwhile Prime has been back running things and he’s been making changes in the staff and recruiting.
The players. Last year the focus was on recruiting potential (rated out of HS), but unproven at the college level talent; this year the focus was on prior production in college, character and football IQ. This year is loaded with players from winning programs, schools that were in lower conferences, but winners in their conferences. Players with starts and stats who were leaders on their teams… Winning teams! Big fish in little ponds… who are hungry to prove themselves.
OSU brought in same type of players, many from the same championship team and the coach and their getting a lot of hype; I’m thinking Prime did the same… But better.
And the team building in camp sounds like it’s gelling too.