As I sat down to begin previewing Colorado, I couldn’t help but go back and revisit my last preview of the Buffs. While the names have all changed, it seems one thing has remained constant over the past 13 years: Colorado football has been mostly awful. They were bad under Dan Hawkins, they were awful with Jon Embree, and they’ve been bad under current coach Mike MacIntyre.
Except for one season: 2016. For one beautiful season in the Flatirons, everything came together. The Buffs won ten games and the Pac-12 South, and ended the season ranked in the top twenty for the first time in fifteen years.