Deion Sanders, Colorado Rank No. 20 in 1st College Football Playoff Rankings of 2024

Colorado ranks 20th in the 2024 season's first College Football Playoff rankings, which were released on Tuesday.

It's an impressive showing for the Buffaloes and head coach Deion Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Famer in his second season leading the team. Colorado was 1-11 in 2022 but improved to 4-8 before landing at 6-2 right now with four regular season games remaining. The Buffaloes, at worst, have also become bowl-eligible for just the third time over the past 17 seasons.

But the team has greater aspirations, namely a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. A win there would secure a top-four seed in the College Football Playoff.

Entering this week, Colorado is 4-1 in the Big 12, good enough for a second-place tie with Iowa State and one game behind 5-0 BYU.

While Colorado's No. 20 ranking is impressive, especially given where the program was two years ago, it ultimately doesn't matter right now.

After Colorado broke into the Top 25 of the Associated Press poll, quarterback Shedeur Sanders explained why that ranking was meaningless.

"It doesn't really even matter," Sanders said on the 2Legendary podcast. "I don't think the rankings really matter, honestly to us. Because you can be ranked one week and not ranked the next week."

Colorado can't afford to rest on its laurels, with a tough road matchup at Texas Tech up next. The Red Raiders are 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12. The Buffaloes are favored, but not by too much (3.5 points, per DraftKings Sportsbook).

In the same podcast, Colorado offensive lineman Justin Mayers also noted how the team has championship goals, not ranking ones.

"We're bowl eligible now, but that's not the end goal. We're trying to make a championship. I feel like a lot of big teams when they start looking at the AP stuff, they lose themselves. But us, we've been through so much as a team that it doesn't matter to us...so we just keep working week in and week out, we'll get what we really want."

To make the Big 12 Championship Game, Colorado will likely need to win out to have a chance. Up next is Texas Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET in Lubbock, followed by a home game against Utah (4-4, 1-4 Big 12). The Buffaloes then travel to Kansas City to play Kansas (2-6, 1-4 Big 12) in Arrowhead Stadium before returning home to finish the regular season against Oklahoma State (3-6, 0-6 Big 12).