AP Poll Voters Show Deion Sanders And Colorado No Respect In Preseason Poll

Getty Image / Deion Sanders

Year two of the Deion Sanders experiment at Colorado is quickly approaching, and it’s sure to be as entertaining and newsworthy as last year’s season. That being said, they will be hoping for a better year after a 3-0 start turned into a 4-8 season for the Buffaloes.

They bring back a lot of their talent from last year, led by projected first-round picks in quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way superstar Travis Hunter. But, AP Poll voters are not buying the hype whatsoever.

The 2024 Associated Press Preseason Poll was released on Monday to much fanfare. Here is the Top 25.

Not only is Colorado not on there, as they weren’t expected to be, but the “receiving votes” section tells us just how bearish AP Poll voters are on Deion Sanders and the Buffs.

Aside from the 25 ranked teams, seventeen more teams received at least one vote in the Top 25 from an AP voter. a first place vote is worth 25 points, second place is worth 24 points, and so on and so forth.

Colorado received just a single point, meaning only one voter voted for them in the 25th spot on their ballot. I guarantee that Deion Sanders wanted to be further ahead in this rebuild than that.

That’s in line with how media members who cover the Big 12 feel about the Buffaloes as well. They were picked to finish 11th in the 16-team conference in the Big 12 Preseason Poll.  

While some Colorado diehards will think they are being disrespected here, given the fact that they do return Sanders and Hunter and theoretically got better in the trenches than last year, this seems right in line. Frankly, after the first three weeks of the season last year, they were a pretty bad football team that looked small, slow, disorganized, and undisciplined. Some of that will be better in year two. But, there was a lot to fix.

And, the schedule isn’t particularly easy. There isn’t a gimme game on the entire schedule, and just making a bowl game with 6 wins would be a good achievement in reality. Of course, 6-6 won’t be a success to many fans observers, and likely Deion Sanders himself. Right now, their consensus win total betting line is 5.5, so 6-6 would exceed expectations.

Colorado opens up their season on August 29, a Thursday night, at home against D1 FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.