Colorado with five Top 25 teams on 2023 football schedule

Not an easy road for Deion Sanders and the Buffs

CU Buffs

The Colorado Buffaloes have one of the toughest schedules in the nation going into the 2023 football season. No joke with the AP Top 25 preseason rankings being a strong indication.

Nearly half of the Buffs schedule is composed of ranked teams, including an opener with No. 17 TCU on Sept. 2. It marks the debut for Coach Prime in Fort Worth against last year's national runner-up.

The Buffs return home in week two for an old-fashioned Big Eight rivalry game with Nebraska. Matt Rhule's Huskers will face Minnesota before heading to Folsom Field on the backside of consecutive road games to open the season. It's going to be a huge game with FOX's Big Noon Saturday providing the coverage on Sept. 9.

For the first time in four years, the Rocky Mountain Showdown returns to the base of the Flatirons on Sept. 16. Colorado State went 3-9 in Jay Norvell's first season in Fort Collins. As for the long-standing in-state rivalry, CU has owned the series with a 14-5 record since 2001, and none of CSU's wins have come consecutively during that time. The Buffs are also riding a five-game winning streak going back to 2015.

Colorado goes on the road to open the start of their final Pac-12 season with No. 15 Oregon on Sept. 23. It will be a warm-up with Ducks QB Bo Nix before returning home on Sept. 30 to face Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and 6th-ranked USC. By far, the toughest stretch for CU at nearly at the midway point of the season.

A return to the road takes the Buffs to Tempe for an early October affair with Arizona State. One of the more friendly series for Colorado in the Pac-12 with an even split of the past four meetings. However, ASU has won two straight, including a 42-34 win last year in Boulder.

The one game that Vegas predicts CU will win this season is an Oct. 13 contest with Stanford. It's a Friday Night Lights feature for the Buffs during family weekend in Boulder. The Cardinal will have first-year coach Troy Taylor at the helm after David Shaw stepped down after last season.

Colorado will enjoy a bye week before smelling the roses when they'll face UCLA on Oct. 28. A goodbye to the iconic Rose Bowl, which was never a friendly place for the Buffaloes to begin with. No. 18 Oregon State rolls into Boulder for what's scheduled to be a final conference game with the Beavers on Nov. 4. Oregon State has been in search of a new conference partner since the Pac-12 was reduced to four teams on the books in 2024. Don't be surprised if the Mountain West comes knocking for OSU to climb aboard.

Colorado remains at home to welcome Arizona on Nov. 11. Both schools will continue on as members of the Big 12 next year. The Wildcats are led by Jedd Fisch, who was one of Coach Prime's assistant coaches in Baltimore during his final years in the NFL. It's the first time either has faced each other.

The final two games come back-to-back on the road for the Buffs. It will be a brutal late Friday night with Washington State on Nov. 17, which comes as a pre-Thanksgiving treat. Colorado then goes to Salt Lake City for a Rumble in the Rockies finale with 14th-ranked Utah on Nov. 25.