Buffs Kick Off in Prime Time: Five Things to Know

BOULDER, Colo. – The Colorado football team returns to Folsom Field on Friday night, opening the 2025 season with a marquee matchup against Georgia Tech (6 p.m. MT).

The 2025 season marks the third of the Coach Prime Era. The Buffs are coming off a 9-4 season in 2024, finishing up with an appearance in the Alamo Bowl—the program's first bowl game since 2020. CU is 13-12 in two seasons with Coach Prime at the helm, turning things around from a 1-11 season in 2022 before his takeover.

Georgia Tech notably upset then-No. 10 Florida State to open the 2024 season in Dublin, Ireland, and finished the year with a 7-6 overall record. The Yellow Jackets clinched a berth to the Birmingham Bowl, falling in their finale to Vanderbilt, 35-27.

Five Things to Know

Colorado and Georgia Tech have never squared off on the football field, but the two are connected by the 1990 shared National Championship. The Buffs were consensus champions, winning the AP, FWAA, NFF, and USA Today/CNN polls while Georgia Tech took the top spot in the UPI coaches' poll by a single vote.
Coach Prime announced Tuesday ahead of the season opener that Kaidon Salter would start at quarterback after a spring and fall camp battle with 17-year-old true freshman Julian Lewis. Salter spent the previous four seasons at Liberty, amassing 5,887 passing yards, 2,063 rushing yards and 77 total touchdowns.
The Buffs will don a throwback look when they take the field on Friday night. The team will wear the traditional gold helmets and pants with the "retro" black jersey and white socks.
Colorado leads the nation with 38 players in their final season of eligibility, eight more than any other FBS team (Mississippi State and Oklahoma State both have 30).
The Buffs have three seventh-year players, tied with Virginia for the most, and are behind only the Cavaliers in terms of the most players in their sixth or longer season. Colorado has 12 such players and Virginia 19.

Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Taylor McGregor will be on the nationally televised call on ESPN.

Voice of the Buffs Mark Johnson and former head coach Gary Barnett will have pregame coverage starting at 4 p.m. MT on the Colorado Radio Network, locally on AM 630.

Players Mentioned

Julian Lewis

Kaidon Salter

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