Deion Sanders, Colorado's Spot Revealed in Final CFP Rankings After Bracket Selection

Colorado's final placement in the CFP rankings was revealed on Sunday.

Head coach Deion Sanders' team finished with the No. 23 spot.

It wasn't a surprise that the Buffaloes weren't included as one of the final 12 teams to make the CFP, as they weren't able to secure a spot in the Big 12 Championship game and recorded three losses to go along with their nine wins.

Colorado suffered an ugly 28-10 loss to Nebraska in its second game of the season, which didn't provide a lot of optimism surrounding a possible CFP berth. The Buffaloes went on to win seven of their next eight games to put them in the race for a Big 12 Championship game appearance, though.

Sitting at 8-2 with two contests remaining, Colorado was riding high entering a Nov. 23 matchup against a Kansas team that owned a 4-6 record at the time.

The Buffaloes ended up losing to the Jayhawks by the final score of 37-21, and a lopsided 52-0 win over Oklahoma State in the ensuing week wasn't enough to give Sanders' team an opportunity to compete for a Big 12 title.

"We controlled our own destiny, and we fumbled it," Sanders told reporters after the defeat.

The Big 12's guaranteed playoff spot ended up going to Arizona State, as the Sun Devils earned a first-round bye after taking down Iowa State by the score of 45-19 in Saturday's conference championship clash.

Despite failing to achieve a playoff spot, Sanders' second season with the Buffaloes was undoubtedly a success. His team improved after a 4-8 record in 2023, which already represented a step up compared to a 1-11 mark in the year before he took over the program.

In fact, Colorado has nine wins in 2024 after earning nine total wins in the past three years combined.

Now, Sanders and the Buffaloes will attempt to record the school's first bowl game victory since 2004.