Paul Finebaum believes Colorado will miss a bowl game: ‘I just don’t see it for them’

Paul Finebaum has been watching college football for a long time — and after Colorado went on the road on Saturday and got completely dominated by Nebraska — the longtime ESPN analyst doesn’t see a scenario where the Buffaloes make a bowl game in 2024.

“I looked at the schedule today, and I just don’t see it for them. I think they’ll come very close,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter. “This looks like — yes, I’m about to say a 5-win team for Deion Sanders, and yet they’re still getting all the conversation but I think that is going to start fading in the next couple of weeks. They just don’t have an offensive line, and Shedeur [Sanders] is outstanding, but he’s going to run for his life. I just don’t see this team making much of a contribution.”

Shedur Sanders was fantastic in Colorado’s Week 1 victory over North Dakota State, throwing for 445 yards and 4 touchdowns to help lead the Buffaloes to a 31-26 win.

But Saturday night’s trip to Nebraska was much different for Sanders. He didn’t have an awful night statistically, finishing the night with 244 passing yards, 1 touchdown and an interception. But Sanders was sacked 5 times and the Nebraska defense exposed Colorado’s offensive line.

The explosive Colorado offense completed just 4 of its 14 third down attempts and was held to just 16 yards on the ground against the Cornhuskers.

The Buffaloes clearly struggled when facing better talent — and they have 5 games against ranked opponents left on the schedule — so it’s easy to see why Finebaum believes they could miss a bowl game.

In October they host No. 17 Kansas State and travel to No. 20 Arizona the next weekend. In November they have a home matchup against No. 11 Utah before traveling to No. 19 Kansas. Finally, Colorado closes out the 2024 regular season with a home game vs. No. 16 Oklahoma State.

Colorado will face Colorado State in Week 3.

Sean Labar

Sean Labar is an SEC football contributor for Saturday Down South.