Lack of a running game will be Colorado’s demise in 2024

By Mark Pszonak

Love him or hate him, Deion Sanders is one of the biggest stories of this college football season. And because of that, everything that he and the Buffaloes do will be vigorously picked apart. So, after watching last night’s game against North Dakota State, I couldn’t help but join in on the picking.

I’ll start by saying that I thought Colorado did the right thing by hiring Sanders. The program was irrelevant nationally and basically stuck in quicksand. Hiring Sanders immediately changed everything. No matter what happened last season, what will happen this season and what happens in the future, he was still the right hire.

The excitement brought by Sanders was tangible last night as Colorado hosted North Dakota State, one of the annually elite FCS teams. Why any P4 school would schedule North Dakota State (or any elite FCS team) is beyond me, but that’s a topic for a different day. Overall, while the game produced a win, it was a mixed back of results when taking a deeper dive.

I never thought that North Dakota State would be able to contain Shedeur Sanders and Colorado’s elite receiving corps. That task became even more unlikely when it was announced earlier this week that their FCS All-Amerian safety Cole Wisniewski would miss the game due to a foot injury. The result was 445 yards and four touchdowns from Sanders. The Bison usually only rushed three as they dropped players into coverage, but it still wasn’t enough to slow down Colorado’s passing game.

But this is where the issues begin. Playing a defense that basically sold out to try and stop the pass, Colorado rushed for 59 yards on 23 carries (2.6 yards per carry). And even with Shedeur’s success, the game still came down to the last play of the game. However, during his postgame press conference Coach Sanders highlighted his son’s accomplishments when asked about the lack of a running game. He stated that “we are going to run the ball” and “we are going to have more balance” as you can see for yourself here:

During the 2023 season, the offensive line at Colorado was the team’s downfall. The Buffaloes never established a running game and Shedeur spent most of the season running for his life. The off-season was spent overhauling the unit as major changes were needed if 2024 was going to be different. Last night’s performance did not bring much hope to that actually happening.

If Colorado couldn’t establish a running game against North Dakota State, arguably the least athletic team on their schedule this season aside from possibly Colorado State, when will it happen? At Nebraska on Saturday night? Kansas State? Utah? Arizona? Oklahoma State? Kansas? The answer is none of these. Without a running game, the season will quickly start resembling 2023.

Yes, Sanders was the right hire, but he has yet to piece together a roster that will produce success and that was once again proven last night.