The Colorado Buffaloes have entered the home stretch of their season, hosting Arizona State in their final game at Folsom Field in 2025.
There’s a lot to like about this matchup for Colorado, especially after Arizona State barely scraped by West Virginia in their matchup last week. This matchup presents the Buffaloes’ last real opportunity to play spoiler and earn a signature win this season, with the Sun Devils sitting just outside the Big 12 title conversation.
Even though Colorado should play another close game, here are five reasons they might not pull off an upset.
Who’s on first?
Colorado’s offensive line play proved to be a massive detriment in the Buffaloes’ game against the Mountaineers. Without Jordan Seaton and Larry Johnson III, the group struggled to protect rising freshman Julian Lewis and limited the offense’s run game. Without the full injury report out, it’s difficult to tell if the Buffs get either player back, but the struggles of the line stand regardless. If the Buffs can’t block for Lewis in the clutch, it’ll prove to be a problem.
Make something shake
The Buffs’ lack of a running game has been ever-present all year, but it’ll begin to really dampen their chances as the weather gets colder. Arizona State has seen enough footage to know what Colorado wants to do in the run game, which adds to the struggles it could have. Without a run game, the Buffs are once again leaving the game in the hands of their true freshman quarterback almost entirely. Another West Virginia-like performance and they’ll end with another West Virginia-like result.
Time for you to get a watch
If this game comes down to another Colorado two-minute drill to win, I have zero confidence in Deion Sanders’ ability to manage the clock effectively. In both of his two opportunities this season, Georgia Tech and West Virginia, he’s let time unnecessarily bleed off the clock and ended any hope the Buffs had at stealing those games. It seems to be one of his detriments, despite being a very good coach, and it could bite them again in this game.
Another scrambling test
Arizona State has turned to Jeff Sims, who has been very good in relief of Sam Leavitt. Where Sims is best is using his legs to create plays; it helped him post a stat line against Iowa State that the Big 12 hadn’t seen since Vince Young. Colorado has struggled to contain scrambling quarterbacks all year, and if Sims gets hot on option plays, the Buffs could be looking at another blowout loss.
Next man up?
In their bout against West Virginia, Colorado was without several key defensive players, chief among them cornerback DJ McKinney. The Buffs’ secondary has had its fair share of struggles in 2025, but McKinney has been the anchor on at least one side of the ball. Without that piece and with Sims’ running ability to worry about, Colorado is very vulnerable to a lethal Arizona State passing attack.
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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Colorado football reasons for concern vs. Arizona State
