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Let’s examine what rivals may form when the Buffs move back to the Big XII

In the last year, the Colorado Buffaloes have gone through something of a rivalry renaissance. After spending 13 years in the Pac-12 and forming no rivalries, Coach Prime and company have rekindled the fire of hatred with old rival Nebraska and Colorado State.

But now that CU is returning to the Big XII this summer, one question remains; who will be the Buffs rivals in the Big XII? We’ll break down some of the prime candidates.

Arizona

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If you’ve been on CU Twitter for the last 10ish years, you’d know that Arizona fans REALLY don’t like the Buffs. Ever since Tad went ballistic after refs called off Sabatino Chen’s buzzer beater in 2013, there’s been a lot of resentment towards the Buffs within the Arizona fanbase.

Colorado has been a bit of thorn in the Wildcats side since joining the Pac-12, especially on the basketball court. Granted, the ‘Cats still have a commanding 26-16 record against us, but those 16 wins are still too many than Arizona fans are willing to accept.

If the Buffs are serious about basketball, the ‘Cats will have semi-established beef that could come to grow as both acclimate to the Big 12. This could be a great rivalry, but it lacks some punch on the gridiron, and it could be a bit one-sided as long as Arizona State is a functioning university.

Kansas State

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Before Colorado jumped ship to the Pac-12 in 2011, these two teams already had an established rivalry going. The Buffs and Wildcats played each other annually from 1948 up until 2010. Both teams could bond in being competitive, frisky teams that challenged the conference heavy weights, but there was no love lost between them when they met each year.

Now, there’s ever more reason for this rivalry to rekindle: former CU and current K-State running back Dylan Edwards. The sophomore had first committed to KSU out of high school, but changed his mind after Deion Sanders took over at CU. He looked like a future star, but the Wildcats swooped in (probably with an NIL bag) and stole him. A fan favorite, the loss of Edwards was a tough blow for CU fans. He will return to Boulder on October 12th and that game will surely mean something more to Buffs on the field and in the stands.

Utah

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The Buffs and Utes spent 13 seasons together in the Pac-12, but nothing close to a rivalry formed during that time. Despite the conference’s best effort to push a “Rumble in the Rockies” rivalry game, the Buffs just weren’t good enough at football to hang with Kyle Whittingham and Co.

If CU can string together a couple of wins against the Utes on the gridiron to knock them off their pedestal, there’s a very high likelihood for beef to form. The Buffs and Utes are located relatively close to each other and in a geographically similar part of the country, but a rivalry would need CU to stay competitive on the field.

BYU

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Colorado’s fanbase certainly doesn’t have the best reputation around the college football world. Known for being obnoxious and borderline antagonistic, CU rowdy fans sure as hell won’t get along with the BYU fanbase.

With BYU being a private religious school run by the LDS, and having, uh, certain politics, these schools couldn’t be more different from each other. Buffs fan will have plenty of ammo to get under the skin of BYU fan, not dissimilar to what Utah fans have done in recent years (yes, this was against Southern Utah, but they do this kind of thing often).

Now the issue with both BYU and Utah is that they deeply hate each other, so there might be room for the Buffs in either case. Still, both teams have deeply passionate fans who could produce a bit of friction with the increasingly online portion of CU’s fans who haven’t yet been humbled by the last 20 years of football.

Arizona State

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On the one hand, the Sun Devils might be something of a fish out of water in the Big XII, having little to no history with anyone in the conference. On the other, ASU fans will fit in well with the fine folks of Waco, Lubbock and Ames, who each enjoy day drinking as much as they do mediocre football.

The Buffs could help with their transition, as these two teams do have a bit of history together even if neither was particularly successful in the Pac-12 era. Both fanbases can be rancid at time, as one hurls piss balloons while the other taunts an opposing player whose father was just assassinated by a terrorist organization.

They also had some heated moments in the Pac-12, from Tad Boyle tearing his Achilles trying to prevent a fight, to Drew Lewis injuring N’Keal Harry on a dirty hit, and of course Steven Montez saving his career best for a warm night in Tempe.

Maybe this light hatred can turn into something more. Or maybe ASU fans grow to hate other conference foes while CU fans re-air their grievances against their former Big 12 opponents.

Oklahoma State

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Coming into the new Big XII, both the Buffs and Pokes find themselves in a relatively weird situation concerning their rivalries. Colorado is coming into a conference in search of a new rival, while OSU’s biggest rival is jumping ship to the SEC. This seems like a perfect opportunity for some beef to form.

CU and OSU are vastly different from each other. Boulder is known for its hippie vibes and relaxed style, while Stillwater is founded on oil and agriculture. The coaches are a bit more bit similar, both a bit brash and confident, but in a way that might clash in the press conferences or on the field.

The bigger deal, of course, is that both teams will be competing for the Big XII crown in 2024 and some serious resentment could form between the two sides. The Pokes will be trying to established themselves as the top dogs in the new conference, while the Buffs are looking to complete Sanders’ turn around, and of course, avenge their loss in the 2016 Alamo Bowl.

by RylandScholes
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It’s time to celebrate CU’s superstar.

No, it’s not Sefo Liufau. No, it’s not Christian Powell, either, and it’s not Michael Adkins. It’s not Chidobe Awuzie but that’s not a bad guess. Okay fine, I’ll tell you, Colorado Buffaloes fan from 2013 who has just been told that a Buff would be on the next cover of the college football video game, it’s Travis Hunter.

After an eleven year hiatus, EA SPORTS is back with College Football 25, a rebirth of the lost but never forgotten NCAA Football franchise. And now, joining luminaries such as Joey Harrington and DeSean Jackson, two-star Travis Hunter is featured in the middle of three cover athletes.

Travis Hunter, Quinn Ewers and Donovan Edwards grace the cover of @EASPORTSCollege pic.twitter.com/yiyi34brIR

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 16, 2024

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Those are three premier stars in college football: Quinn Ewers, the Texas QB and odds-on favorite to the win the Heisman; Donovan Edwards, the electric running back who will get a chance to star for the defending champions; and Hunter, the hybrid receiver-cornerback playing for Coach Prime’s up-and-coming Buffaloes.

This is a big win not only for Hunter, but also for Deion Sanders’ rebuild of the Colorado football brand. Yes, that is the word, “Colorado,” shiny and gold, front and center of a game we’ve been anticipating for more than a decade. Love him or hate him, Prime has brought in elite athletes, overhauled the entire roster around them, and has turned this team into a must-watch for national audiences.

by Sam Metivier
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Colorado’s schedule is starting to take shape.

After details of the Buffaloes game against Nebraska were announced earlier this week, more news about the schedule for CU’s first season back in the Big 12 have been released. This time, it’s for arguably their biggest non-conference game of the year (non-rivalry division), a primetime – for the east coast, at least – game against North Dakota State.

Thursday night at Folsom Field #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/oUQsGp9ANT

— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) May 14, 2024

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NDSU has long been one of the most dominant teams in the FCS. They have 17 FCS National Titles, and have won the Missouri Valley Conference title seven times in the last 10 years. Their last national and conference title came in 2021, although they did make it all the way to the National Championship game – while unseeded – last season.

For the Buffs, Thursday night games are a fairly rare occurrence. According to the school’s website, they’ve played just five in the past 32 seasons, and only two at home. The most recent home game was against Arizona State in 2012.

by camellis
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The Buffs and Huskers will face off on NBC

As more and more details start trickling in about the 2024 season, we finally have more info on perhaps the new campaign’s most exciting game.

Early Monday morning, it was announced by the university that Colorado’s week two matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln will take place at 5:30 pm MT on September 7th. The contest will air on NBC.

September 7.
5:30pm MT on NBC.#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/CvByUzS2JC

— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) May 13, 2024​

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This year’s matchup with the Huskers comes fresh off a dominant 36-14 Buffaloes win at Folsom Field in 2023. Now, Colorado has to play the latter half of their home-and-away deal with Nebraska at Memorial Stadium.

This is the final matchup that the two schools have scheduled, as they both have their non-conference filled up until at least 2029. The Buffs and Huskers won’t play again for another five years at the minimum, so they’ve got to make it count in Lincoln on September 7th.

Get ready to buckle up and enjoy some of the absolute STUNNING cornfields and dead grass aside I-80 this September, as this is our last chance to see the Buffs beat up on Nebraska for the foreseeable future.

by RylandScholes
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The Buffs should see three players drafted in 2024.

It’s been thirteen years since the Colorado Buffaloes had a player selected in the NBA Draft lottery. That will change in 2024, as not one but two Buffs might hear their names in the first fourteen picks of the draft.

Now that the NBA Draft Lottery is finalized, we can better project where each of Cody Williams, Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson might be selected. The teams interested remain the same, but the order of things will be a bit messy after some teams moved drastically up and down, most notably the Hawks rising from #13 to #1 and the Pistons dropping (again) from #1 to #5.

Williams has long been projected as a potential top-10 or even top-5 pick. That could still happen, although NBA teams aren’t sure what to think of him. On the one hand, he has immense physical tools, a great work ethic and has shown steady growth since his junior year of high school. On the other, he’s an inconsistent shooter, lacks aggression and might not be as good of a defender as he should be. Another year of college ball would have been great for him to be the main man, but it’s a weak draft where he’s almost guaranteed to go in the lottery.

Mock drafts have him somewhere in the 7-12 range. That’s probably the sweet spot, since teams in that range — Blazers, Spurs, Grizzlies, Jazz, Thunder — will ease him into things without giving him too much pressure to be someone he’s not. It’s easy to see him as a support player in Portland or San Antonio, playing within the flow of the offense, doing the little things to keep things moving along. That’s what he needs if he’s going to ever reach his tantalizing potential — somewhere stable where he can put all the pieces together over the next few years. And if he doesn’t reach his potential, he’s still a good, solid player who should contribute to winning basketball.

While Williams will take time to develop, Tristan da Silva will be drafted to be an immediate contributor on a winning team. He’s a quintessential glue guy who can play as a 3 or 4 in the NBA. He excels as an off-ball shooter, makes smart reads as a passer and driver, will play solid team defense, and has just enough one-on-one scoring juice to make something happen if need be. The main question is his so-so athleticism and older age, but late bloomers like him tend to get better well into their careers.

After the success of Jaime Jaquez and Brandin Podziemski, teams are figuring out that smart, polished players provide a ton of value on their rookie contracts. Da Silva’s draft range probably starts at with the Thunder (12) or Kings (13), both competitive teams who could use another forward in their rotation. He would also fit in with the Sixers (16), Magic (18) and Cavs (20), making it hard to see him drop any further. Each of them plays a different style of basketball, but the beauty of da Silva is that he’s a versatile, 6’9 shooter who can fit pretty much anywhere.

(Side note: We should celebrate TDS’s growth more than we do. He was a complete unknown out of Germany and everyone made fun of Tad Boyle for playing him so much as a freshman. But he developed his shot, mastered his footwork and over the years gained the confidence to take over when he had to.)

KJ Simpson probably won’t be selected in the first round, but he’s a near lock to go in the early-to-mid second round. He was a star on the Buffs, where he weaponized his deadly combination of pull-up shots, physical drives and just enough playmaking to keep the defense honest. That won’t be his role in the NBA, but he will provide spot-up shooting, strong one-on-one defense and can step in as PG if needed. There are real questions about his size at 6’2 and his ability to play off-ball after a ball-dominant three years in Boulder.

He’s probably in the 40-50 range, where competitive teams will look for someone who can fight for a rotation spot. Somewhere like Philadelphia (41), Miami (43) or Sacramento (45) could work. Teams will value him for both his current skill set and his competitiveness that will have him fighting every day for playing time. The Heat could be the best landing spot for him, not only as a cultural fit but because his shooting ability could be further unlocked by their top-tier coaching staff.

Also of note, Nique Clifford, the former (and forever) Buff, has momentum to be a second round pick. He looked fantastic at Colorado State, where all his talent finally shone after years of not knowing what kind of player to be at CU. He’s a 6’6 guard with legit athleticism, solid three-point shooting and a good head on his shoulders. Teams will value that profile if they buy into his shot, which was up-and-down in both Boulder and Ft. Collins.

Bobi Klintman will also be a first round pick, most likely. If you don’t remember him, he’s a Swedish forward who was committed to CU but went to Wake Forest instead after he failed to qualify academically. He would have been exciting but frustrating for Buffs fans. The athletic, 6’10 forward has all the tools to be great, yet he lacks the consistency and focus to put it all together for more than five minutes at a time. Teams will give him a few chances to figure it out because he has all kinds of potential.

by Sam Metivier
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