College Football

What is Colorado's football identity after loss to USC?

Updated Oct. 2, 2023 10:01 a.m. ET

BOULDER, Colo. — There were 59 college football games involving FBS teams in Week 5. Only one of them was an event.

It featured a guest list to make awards shows envious. Former New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia was there, sporting a golden whistle as his sideline pass. Steps away from him, basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce waxed poetic to a fan about playing hoops a few blocks away while in college. Rapper Lecrae took selfies, as Terrell Owens and Desean Jackson brushed past a sea of recruits and some of the nearly 900 credentialed media members in attendance.

There may have been a few more entertaining games this past weekend, but none topped USC's trip to Colorado for a "Big Noon" thriller in terms of both ambiance and ultimate outcome. It was a gem in which the stars who came out were appropriately treated to a show beneath the glistening Flatirons. USC's reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams dazzled with a five-touchdown performance, then the Trojans held on for a 48-41 victory.

[USC is still putting too much on Caleb Williams' shoulders]

"They were resilient. They did not give up when they had multiple opportunities to give up. They fought to the end," Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, the man many came to see, said of his team. "We've just got to fix the little issues that we're having — and I don't know if that's age, I don't know if this is new systems. But, overall, I'm really proud of not only the young men, but the coaches, the fan base, the student body, all of you. I'm truly proud of the way we represented Boulder."

As proud as Sanders may have been, those walking off Folsom Field did not take solace in the end result — no matter how encouraging the closing kick may have been for a fan base desperate to cling to any semblance of quality football. As their head coach understands well from his time in the NFL, you are what your record says you are, and the Buffaloes have emerged from their toughest stretch of the schedule at 3-2.

"We just lost. Just because it's a big team doesn't mean we tip our cap and it's time to get blown out now," quarterback Shedeur Sanders noted, quickly dismissing any notion that losing by seven points to a top-10 team was a moral victory. "A loss is a loss."

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Saturday's result, even as a loss, carries some weight. While few involved in the sport truly bought into this group as capable of reaching the Pac-12 championship in Las Vegas, there was a belief preached inside the program that it was.

While those aspirations can now probably be tossed aside, there is a good enough sample size to ponder what Colorado football now is under Coach Prime.

We know the Buffs are compelling, drawing a television audience across this season that exceeds the past five years of Buffaloes football combined.

We know they're interesting, with a shootout victory over a top-25 team mixed in with two delightful second-half comebacks.

We know they're fun, with a team that is 14th in the country in offensive snaps and 12th with nine plays of more than 40 yards.

More than anything, however, we know they're flawed, which shouldn't be surprising after a wholesale roster change that featured 69 new scholarship players.

Breaking down USC's narrow win over Buffaloes

"We have yet to have an identity," remarked Sanders on Saturday afternoon. "I challenge them all week on, ‘What's the identity?' I don't know who we are from week to week. I don't know what we're going to do. You know, from practice to practice, I do. But we've got to translate that into the games. So we still searching for our true identity."

Coach Prime may say he's still searching for an identity, but the fact is that there is one developing at Colorado.

The Buffs offense was largely expected to carry them, and that has played out so far — albeit in a more one-dimensional fashion than offensive coordinator Sean Lewis would like. The team is fifth nationally in passing offense and 127th when it comes to running the football.

The offensive line was circled as a weak point by just about everybody, and it has somehow both exceeded expectations and become an Achilles' heel. Though USC took down Shedeur Sanders just three times, Colorado has given up the second most sacks in the country.

Postgame Interview: Deion Sanders on Colorado's late comeback

Defensively, things have not been rosy either, and playing back-to-back top-10 opponents that featured Heisman Trophy candidates hasn't helped. The Buffs rank 123rd in yards per play allowed and are the worst Power 5 program in points per game allowed. Furthermore, only Florida International and Vanderbilt have given up more plays of 10-plus yards.

"We challenged them tremendously at halftime. Everybody says they want the light until they want in the light," the elder Sanders added. "The thing about the light is it echoes your blemishes. We challenged them."

With the exception of a good old-fashioned "butt-kicking" at the hands of Oregon, the team has responded well to adversity. The Buffs rallied three times in the second half to beat TCU. They ground rival Nebraska into the dirt in their first home game. They went 98 yards in 90 seconds to force overtime against Colorado State.

The USC game seemed to be trending toward being another Oregon game, too, before Shedeur Sanders scrambled from 25 yards out to cap off an 83-yard touchdown drive just before the half. The defense proceeded to pitch a fourth-quarter shutout to give the Buffs a chance, and both head coach and players were confident that they were just a recovered onside kick away from victory.

Still, 3-2 is 3-2 and nobody in Boulder is running from that mark despite the obvious progress it represents in the grand scheme of things. Last year's team, different as it was, went 1-11 and was probably the worst Power 5 team in America.

Shedeur Sanders throws fourth TD vs. USC

Did the hype get a little too out in front of things after the upset of TCU, followed by a complete victory over old Big Eight foe Nebraska? Undoubtedly. Yet this was also the toughest stretch on the schedule by a good margin, and upcoming games against Arizona State and Stanford represent a good opportunity to knock on the door of bowl eligibility with five games left on the docket.

Considering the return of the Buffs' best player is on the horizon — and wouldn't somebody like Travis Hunter have made a difference in such a tight contest with the Trojans? — that's a real reason for optimism moving forward.

"If you can't see what's coming with CU football, you've lost your mind... or you're just a flat-out hater," Deion Sanders said, his head shaking in dismissal of the doubters. "If you can't see what's going on, what's going to transpire over the next several months, something's wrong with you."

The Buffs may well evolve into a force in college football over the coming years as their head coach predicts. But until then, they are who they are at this moment as they make their way through the most difficult conference in the country.

They're flawed, they're fun, and they remain must-see TV.

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Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.