The Deion Sanders-led Colorado football team had a disappointing finish last season. 

Colorado was able to attract some top recruits in 2024 as the Pro Football Hall of Famer orchestrated a massive roster overhaul. The Buffaloes’ 4-8 record in 2023 was an improvement over its 1-11 mark in the season prior to Sanders’ arrival. 

But, the Buffaloes will face an uphill battle when they kick off their inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference in late August. As the calendar turns to July, the conference’s football media preseason poll was revealed.

The Big 12 Conference has expanded to 16 schools. Entering the 2024 season, media members projected the Buffaloes as the 11th best team in the conference.

Colorado’s roster does feature elite talent at some key positions. Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders received All-Big 12 honors, while star wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter was the preseason pick for defensive player of the year.

EX-COLORADO PLAYER RIPS DEION SANDERS’ APPROACH TO ROSTER OVERHAUL

However, some appear to believe the Buffaloes’ deficiencies could prevent the team from racking up a significant number of wins in 2024.

Colorado could enter several games this upcoming season as an underdog. The Buffaloes will host North Dakota State to open the regular season. They will then travel to Nebraska, followed by a matchup with in-state rival Colorado State.

Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) passes the ball during a PAC-12 conference football game between the Colorado Buffaloes and Oregon Ducks on September 23, 2023 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.  (Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Buffaloes return home to take on Baylor, before traveling UCF. The remainder of Colorado’s schedule is listed below:

Oct. 12 – Kansas State

Oct. 19 – at Arizona

Oct. 26 – Cincinnati

Nov. 9 – at Texas Tech

Nov. 16 – Utah

Nov. 23 – at Kansas

Nov. 29 – Oklahoma State

Colorado Buffaloes tight end Michael Harrison (87) celebrates with the fans on the field after winning the Rocky Mountain Showdown against the Colorado State Rams 43-35 in double over time at Folsom Field September 16, 2023.  (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Utah took the top spot in the Big 12 preseason poll, while Arizona State rounded out the list. The full preseason poll is listed below:

1. Utah 
2. Kansas State 
3. Oklahoma State
4. Kansas 
5. Arizona 
6. Iowa State
7. West Virginia
8. UCF 
9. Texas Tech
10. TCU 
11. Colorado
12. Baylor 
13. BYU 
14. Cincinnati 
15. Houston 
16. Arizona State

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) looks to pass the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Colorado State, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Boulder, Colo.  (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The always confident Sanders will have to coach Colorado to victory during the regular season to disprove some of the doubts surrounding the Buffaloes.

The Big 12 Media Days are scheduled for July 9-10 in Las Vegas. Sanders missed last year’s Pac-12 Conference Media Days due to a “routine, follow-up” procedure on his foot.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks had a base open.

They decided to pitch to Freddie Freeman anyway.

In the Dodgers’ come-from-behind, walk-off 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, Freeman provided the pivotal moment in a winning two-run rally in the ninth, hammering a two-strike double to tie the score before scoring the winning run on Teoscar Hernández’s game-ending single an at-bat later.

It was the kind of late-game sequence the Dodgers have mastered of late — with the home team thrilling a sold-out Chavez Ravine crowd for their 18th comeback win of the season.

For most of the night, the two teams traded blows in a back-and-forth game.

The Dodgers took an early two-run lead. Bobby Miller avoided implosion in a two-run fourth inning. Then, after a monstrous two-run blast from Shohei Ohtani gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning, the club’s bullpen gave up runs in the top of the eighth and ninth innings to see the Diamondbacks to surge back in front.

The Arizona lead, however, wouldn’t last.

With two out in the ninth, Will Smith sparked the winning rally by lining a two-run double off the center-field wall.

That left a base open for the Diamondbacks to potentially walk Freeman, the first base slugger who was coming off his best month of the season in June.

Instead, Arizona let closer Paul Sewald pitch to the former MVP.

In an 0-and-2 count, the decision backfired spectacularly.

With chants of “Fredd-ie! Fredd-ie!” raining from the stands, Freeman turned on a 93-mph fastball over the outer edge of the zone, roping a tying double into the right-center field gap.

Moments later, Hernández completed the comeback by bouncing an RBI single through the left side of the infield, sending the crowd into delirium as the club collected its third walk-off win of the season.

Tom Brady’s serious approach to football during his time in the NFL was well documented. 

During a sit-down on “The Pivot” podcast, the seven-time Super Bowl winner expressed some regret about his fiery approach.

“What I would have changed was, ‘OK, there’s part of me that still loves …’ You see these young players. I see, like, Patrick [Mahomes] out there at quarterback, laughing, having fun,” Brady told former NFL players and current podcast co-hosts Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder in May. 

“I’m like, ‘I used to be like that!’ What the hell happened to me? I just got too serious.”

Brady seemed to take a serious and arguably robotic approach that the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick had during the franchise’s unprecedented run of success. 

NFL LEGEND GIVES TOM BRADY CRUCIAL BROADCASTING ADVICE AHEAD OF FIRST SEASON IN THE BOOTH

When Brady did get emotional, it often involved him getting in teammates’ faces to yell at them on the sideline or him violently smashing a tablet.

But Brady did seem to be looser when he left New England and joined the Buccaneers in 2020.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady yells at his team during the second half of a game against the Washington Football Team Nov. 14, 2021, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Brady announced his decision to retire from the NFL “for good” after the 2022 season. The NFL icon is now preparing to make the move to the broadcasting booth. 

Brady, along with NFL on FOX play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt, will call the Dallas Cowboys Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 8. The game will mark Brady’s debut as FOX Sports’ lead NFL analyst. He also stepped into the broadcast booth during last month’s UFL Championship game.

Tom Brady, former New England Patriots quarterback, stands center stage under Super Bowl banners and receives a standing ovation at the end of his Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

As Brady looks ahead to the next chapter in his career, he also took a moment to look back at what he could have done differently.

“You just learn from it, and go, ‘OK, now next phase of life, enjoy it a little more,’” Brady said.

He also discussed the challenges he faced during the early portion of his career.

“So much [of], I think, the early part of my career was trying to fulfill people’s new expectations of me and me still being the 14-year-old boy that wanted to fit in. I was like, ‘I just want to go to the field and play,’” Brady said. “Now, there was all these other things to choose from.

“Next thing you know, you’re overwhelmed because you didn’t sleep, you didn’t eat right, you were partying. I’m like, ‘I don’t really like the way I’m feeling.’”

Brady has had a busy few months leading up to his highly anticipated transition to broadcasting. The Patriots held a star-studded Hall of Fame induction ceremony for him at Gillette Stadium in June. 

He was also roasted during a live broadcast in May, a decision he later said he regretted.

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