A Year Later, Buffs Get Their Shot At Round Two
August 31, 2026 | Football
BOULDER — The last time Colorado and Georgia Tech shared a football field, seven points and 90 seconds separated them. The Buffaloes had tied the game at 20 in the fourth quarter, only to watch it slip away on a 45-yard touchdown run with 1:07 to play in a 27-20 season-opening loss at Folsom Field.
On Thursday, the Buffs get round two — this time in Atlanta, under the lights, with a roster and a coaching staff rebuilt for exactly these kinds of nights. Kickoff against the Yellow Jackets is set for 6 p.m. MT on ESPN.
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders is not dressing up what awaits.
"Truly a task, going to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech," Coach Prime said Monday. "Coach Key is one of my favorites. Played the game — tough, hard-nosed, detailed coach. It's going to be a tremendous challenge, but I love it. I absolutely love it."
The respect runs deep enough that Coach Prime remembered the number that beat him — or nearly did. Reminded that Georgia Tech's since-departed quarterback ran for 156 yards that night, he laughed.
"Thank God that quarterback is gone," Coach Prime said. "That kid refused to lose a year ago, and he was definitely a difference maker."
The harder question — whether this new-look Colorado team is built to win the kind of game it lost a year ago — is one Coach Prime admits nobody can fully answer until Thursday.
"It's tough. You know why? Because you practice against yourself," Coach Prime said. "The offense is doing well, you saying, 'Well, the defense is horrible.' Defense is doing well, you saying the offense is horrible, and oftentimes that may not be the case. You may have two great teams, including special teams as well, but you really don't know because you're gauging them against your players. But for my knowledge of the game of football, we're pretty good to me."
What he can measure is how his program has carried itself into game week. Monday's morning meeting, he said, was a pointed one — the entire staff was challenged — and the practice that followed was one of the better ones of the stretch. The new-look coaching staff, assembled from the professional and collegiate levels, has passed the test Coach Prime watches for most closely: nothing about them has changed now that the games count.
"They've been consistently who they are from the beginning," Coach Prime said. "I'm kind of skeptical when all of a sudden someone changes, you know, because the kids can sense that, and most oftentimes it's fear. You start getting a little nervous about everything, but these coaches aren't like that. I mean, from A all the way to Z."
Their connection with the roster, he added, "to me, is second to none. It's some of the best I've ever seen."
On the field, the thing he most wants to see Thursday belongs to defensive coordinator Chris Marve's unit.
"I want to see how they get to the ball defensively, because Marve has them flying," Coach Prime said. "They're flying to the ball. When you fly to the ball like that, you should see turnovers."
The Buffs have even prepared their body clocks for the occasion. With a night kickoff two time zones away, Colorado has been shifting practice and sleep schedules — a walk-through in Atlanta is planned for Wednesday evening at roughly game time, and Thursday's wake-up call will come late by camp standards.
"We're just trying to make sure we dot I's and cross T's," Coach Prime said.
None of it changes the fundamental math of the opener: two teams that traded punches for 60 minutes a year ago, meeting again with everything new except the respect.
"Let's not get this mistaken. Everybody wants a dub, whether it's a layup or whether you got to fight for it," Coach Prime said. "Georgia Tech is not a layup by any means, and we are not a layup to them by any means. So it's going to be a tremendous task. Like I said, I got the utmost respect for Coach Key and that staff that he's assembled, and I'm sure he feels the same. And it was a tremendous battle last season that they had — a quarterback that refused to lose, and I love that. I love that.
"I want to flip it on. I really do."
On Thursday, the Buffs get round two — this time in Atlanta, under the lights, with a roster and a coaching staff rebuilt for exactly these kinds of nights. Kickoff against the Yellow Jackets is set for 6 p.m. MT on ESPN.
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders is not dressing up what awaits.
"Truly a task, going to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech," Coach Prime said Monday. "Coach Key is one of my favorites. Played the game — tough, hard-nosed, detailed coach. It's going to be a tremendous challenge, but I love it. I absolutely love it."
The respect runs deep enough that Coach Prime remembered the number that beat him — or nearly did. Reminded that Georgia Tech's since-departed quarterback ran for 156 yards that night, he laughed.
"Thank God that quarterback is gone," Coach Prime said. "That kid refused to lose a year ago, and he was definitely a difference maker."
The harder question — whether this new-look Colorado team is built to win the kind of game it lost a year ago — is one Coach Prime admits nobody can fully answer until Thursday.
"It's tough. You know why? Because you practice against yourself," Coach Prime said. "The offense is doing well, you saying, 'Well, the defense is horrible.' Defense is doing well, you saying the offense is horrible, and oftentimes that may not be the case. You may have two great teams, including special teams as well, but you really don't know because you're gauging them against your players. But for my knowledge of the game of football, we're pretty good to me."
What he can measure is how his program has carried itself into game week. Monday's morning meeting, he said, was a pointed one — the entire staff was challenged — and the practice that followed was one of the better ones of the stretch. The new-look coaching staff, assembled from the professional and collegiate levels, has passed the test Coach Prime watches for most closely: nothing about them has changed now that the games count.
"They've been consistently who they are from the beginning," Coach Prime said. "I'm kind of skeptical when all of a sudden someone changes, you know, because the kids can sense that, and most oftentimes it's fear. You start getting a little nervous about everything, but these coaches aren't like that. I mean, from A all the way to Z."
Their connection with the roster, he added, "to me, is second to none. It's some of the best I've ever seen."
On the field, the thing he most wants to see Thursday belongs to defensive coordinator Chris Marve's unit.
"I want to see how they get to the ball defensively, because Marve has them flying," Coach Prime said. "They're flying to the ball. When you fly to the ball like that, you should see turnovers."
The Buffs have even prepared their body clocks for the occasion. With a night kickoff two time zones away, Colorado has been shifting practice and sleep schedules — a walk-through in Atlanta is planned for Wednesday evening at roughly game time, and Thursday's wake-up call will come late by camp standards.
"We're just trying to make sure we dot I's and cross T's," Coach Prime said.
None of it changes the fundamental math of the opener: two teams that traded punches for 60 minutes a year ago, meeting again with everything new except the respect.
"Let's not get this mistaken. Everybody wants a dub, whether it's a layup or whether you got to fight for it," Coach Prime said. "Georgia Tech is not a layup by any means, and we are not a layup to them by any means. So it's going to be a tremendous task. Like I said, I got the utmost respect for Coach Key and that staff that he's assembled, and I'm sure he feels the same. And it was a tremendous battle last season that they had — a quarterback that refused to lose, and I love that. I love that.
"I want to flip it on. I really do."
Wednesday, August 26
Monday, August 24
Monday, August 24
Monday, August 24
