Joel Klatt Details Why Colorado Is A Dark Horse Big 12 Contender

The word "contender" means something a little bit different in college football following the expansion of the playoff from four to 12 teams.

The path is as clear as ever for teams in the Power 4 conferences. You win your conference, and you are automatically in. Something that FOX's Joel Klatt thinks is a real possibility for Deion Sanders and his Colorado squad as they make their return to the Big 12 after being in the Pac-12 since 2011.

On a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show , Klatt revealed that he would be "insane" not to name Colorado as a dark horse contender in the Big 12 even though they are projected to win around five or six games based on FanDuel 's win total odds and ESPN's FPI .

"Colorado's a dark horse for this thing," Klatt said . "I would be insane to not put Colorado in there as a dark horse for the Big 12. They're really talented; they might have the best quarterback in the entire league, and the skill position players are insanely talented.

"This is a team that went from one win to four. Where it really threw away a couple of other wins. Should have been a bowl team last year and everyone's like 'Well can they got to a bowl?' What are you talking about? This team I think is an eight or nine-win team which puts them in the conversation in a deep quality league for a potential bid to the Big 12 Championship Game."

Klatt also touched on what it would take for them to find this success in 2024, citing the need to protect quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who was sacked 52 times last season. This mark was just one less than the amount he was sacked in the previous two seasons combined.

"If they keep Shedeur Sanders upright and he can throw to some of these talented players on the outside like Travis Hunter, watch out, Colorado is going to win a lot of games," commented Klatts. "They've got a difficult stretch early...North Dakota State they play early. Nebraska they play early. If they win both of those games then watch out because guess what? It's going to be 2023 all over again. That hype train is going to be barreling down the rails and I might be driving it."

Sanders' squad will have plenty of new names for people to learn in 2024 as they brought in nearly 50 players from the transfer portal. They did, however, appear to emphasize experience this time around as opposed to last year's class. We will see if this tactic works or not on Thursday, Aug. 29, when they open the season on ESPN against FCS power North Dakota State.

According to ESPN's matchup predictor , Colorado has a 71.1% chance of winning that game and is favored by nine points.

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