BOULDER — The numbers behind Colorado’s 2-4 start to the season are what they are.

The Buffaloes are 0-4 against Power 4 opponents. They’re 0-3 in Big 12 play. Three of those four losses were in games CU led by 10 or more points.

A few plays go the other way, and Deion Sanders’ team is 4-2, but Coach Prime isn’t taking solace in moral victories. He wants actual victories — and his belief that they are about to come isn’t wavering as his team welcomes No. 22 Iowa State to Boulder this Saturday (1:30 p.m. ESPN).

Iowa State running back Abu Sama III (24) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against Arkansas State during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Jonesboro, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)

“I’m not saying we’re a great football team, but we’re not a bad football team. We’re better than we’re playing,” Sanders said this week. “The reason I’m still excited about this team… is because I don’t feel like we’ve gotten our butt kicked. I feel like we’ve just wrapped it up and given it to (our opponents) and that’s frustrating, but also there’s hope in that. We see where the faults are and we gotta fix that.”

The faults have been the same for weeks, and the players know it, too.

After last week’s loss at TCU, a few players could be heard yelling, “It’s the same stuff every week!” while heading into the locker room. It was a familiar feeling after CU saw a 14-0 lead with three minutes left in the first half turn into a 14-14 tie heading into the locker room thanks to a pair of poorly-timed turnovers by quarterback Kaidon Salter. 

Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter (3) signals at the line of scrimmage during an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

The Buffs also continued to struggle in the third quarter, once again failing to score in the first 15 minutes after halftime as they have been outscored 34-24 in the third quarter this season.

Sanders isn’t viewing the frustration as a negative, to this point.

“You’re happy as a coach to see that frustration. If you just see no anger or hostility or somebody going off, you’ve got a problem in your locker room,” Coach Prime said. “You want to see that controlled rage, so to speak. We’ve seen it. Some of these guys are fed up. They want to win and they want to win in the fashion they’re capable of winning. We’re in every game. Sure, that game (at TCU) got away at the end, but it shouldn’t have. We had opportunities.

“We’re playing good football, except for a couple of quarters.”

That’s why Sanders has changed up the practice schedule slightly this week. He’s being more deliberate about the breaks in practice, emphasizing the start of the second, third and fourth quarters. He knows improvement in the game won’t come without improvement on the practice field.

“You want to perform like you practice and if it’s not happening in the game, therefore it’s not happening in practice,” Sanders said. “We’re doing the necessary things to prepare our young men and we’re making sure we prepare our young men so there’s no excuses.”

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders points as he responds to a question during a news conference after the team’s NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

If the Buffs fail to get that first signature win of 2025 this week, there likely will be no excuses to be made. The season is already halfway over, and CU has already suffered more home losses in 2025 (2) than all of 2024 (1).

With a bye week on the horizon and against a banged-up Cyclones team that showed its vulnerabilities, there might not be a better chance to get that first Big 12 win and get the season as a whole back on track. 

How close is the breakthrough? So close, Coach Prime feels he can reach out and grab it. He just needs his players to go on the field and grab it for him.

“We don’t wanna just hang in, we wanna win,” Sanders said. “(We’re) close. Not far away. Really close. I’m not talking about with binoculars… I’m talking about close. We can darn near touch it, that’s how close we are.”