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The Colorado Buffaloes’ loss to Kansas last week in Kansas City was so damaging that it practically killed their College Football Playoff dreams and instead knocked them down into a more likely path to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio Dec. 28.
Coach Deion Sanders and his Buffs (8-3) still have an outside chance of playing in the Big 12 Conference championship game Dec. 7 – and maybe getting a playoff berth if they win.
But they need help in at least two other Big 12 games Saturday to get that far. And if that doesn’t happen, the Alamo Bowl will be waiting after sending a representative to attend the Buffs’ regular-season finale Friday at home against Oklahoma State (3-8) at noon ET on ABC.
“If Colorado is available to us, we’d have an interest in them playing in our game,” Alamo Bowl Vice President Rick Hill told USA TODAY Sports.
After the 12-team playoff is finalized Dec. 8, the Alamo Bowl will set its matchup between a team from the Big 12 and a team from the former Pac-12 conference. It gets the first pick among remaining bowl-eligible teams from those two pools of teams, according to contracts that predated the breakup of the Pac-12 this year.
Why Colorado might be headed to the Alamo Bowl
Among the “legacy” Pac-12 teams that are eligible, Oregon (11-0) is expected to get in the playoff. Arizona State (9-2) could, too, if the Sun Devils win the Big 12.
That leaves Colorado and Washington State (8-3) as the best possible Alamo Bowl selections on the Pac-12 side of the ledger. Even if Arizona State doesn’t make the playoff and instead becomes available to the Alamo Bowl, who would be the most attractive team for the Alamo Bowl to invite if the goal is to sell tickets and juice television viewership on ABC?
That’s the whole point of bowl games – viewership and ticket sales.
Colorado has delivered both under Sanders, having been selected to play every one of its games this season on national television. The Buffs ranked 11th nationally in average viewership at 3.64 million through Week 11 of the season, according to CU. In their first 22 games under Sanders since last year, the Buffs have drawn sellout crowds in 20 of them.
So Colorado could play another Big 12 team in San Antonio?
It doesn’t matter if Colorado is now a member of the Big 12 and would play another Big 12 team in the Alamo Bowl. Colorado hasn’t even played BYU (9-2) or Iowa State (9-2), both of whom are tied for first place in the Big 12 with the Buffs and Arizona State. Either BYU or Iowa State will be available for the Alamo Bowl to pick on the Big 12 side of the matchup.
A BYU-Colorado game arguably is the Alamo’s most realistic dream scenario. A loss to Oklahoma State Friday by the Buffs could change that, but maybe not. Hill confirmed the Alamo Bowl has first-choice among eligible teams regardless of where they finished in the standings. Would the Alamo Bowl pick an 8-4 or 9-3 Colorado team over a 10-2 or 10-3 Arizona State team? It could.
Colorado and BYU have not played each other since the 1988 Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, Calif. The Buffs have not played Iowa State since 2010.
What if the Alamo Bowl does not pick Colorado?
If the Alamo Bowl picks another team instead, the Holiday Bowl in San Diego gets the next pick among teams from the former Pac-12 to play a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference on Dec. 27. This is probably the furthest the Buffs would fall in the non-playoff bowl pecking order.
San Diego might be preferable to Colorado fans simply because they remember the Alamo all too well. The Buffs’ last two bowl games were in the Alamo Bowl in 2020 and 2016. Both were blowout losses. But they don’t get a say and still would make the trip just two seasons after watching their team finish 1-11 in 2022.
Would Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter play in a non-playoff bowl game?
They haven’t said if they would opt out of playing to avoid any injury that could hurt their NFL draft stock. But Deion Sanders has influence over both of them and was asked on Tuesday whether Friday’s game might be their last for Colorado if they don’t get in the Big 12 title game.
“No, it’s not the last time you’re gonna see them in a Buff uniform,” he said.
Both of his sons on the team – quarterback Shedeur and safety Shilo – could have turned pro after last season but returned to play for their dad at Colorado. It wasn’t about the money. Both Shedeur and Hunter make good money in college, anyway – from name, image and likeness deals.
They might look at a non-playoff bowl game not as an injury risk but as a last showcase together as father and sons. Deion Sanders considers Hunter to be a son, too. Hunter, the leading Heisman Trophy candidate, confirmed to USA TODAY Sports last week that he would turn pro after his junior season this year.
Colorado still has an outside shot at the Big 12 title
The Buffs are in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 with BYU, Iowa State and Arizona State, each with a 6-2 league record. But according to league tiebreaker rules, they need more than a win Friday to play for the championship. They need two of those other first-place teams to lose Saturday, or BYU to lose at home vs. Houston along with a Texas Tech win against West Virginia.
Sanders said he didn’t plan to watch those other Big 12 games Saturday.
“I’m not the type of guy to sit down and wish everyone loses so we can reach our goal,” he said Tuesday. “I’m not built like that. We had (our) opportunity. We squandered it.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com