For reasons that defy logic, CU’s 2026 football schedule is objectively harsher than every other Big 12 team’s schedule.
Want the details?
CU has 2 Power 4 nonconference games (Georgia Tech and Northwestern).
Both are on the road.
And the Buffs only get six home games total.
And that, dear readers, is Rick George’s parting gift to the CU football program: a schedule that will make it that much more difficult for CU to achieve bowl eligibility in a critical season for Deion Sanders and his regime.
Unbelievable.
The Big 12 Baseline (Excluding CU)
Take Colorado out of the league math, and the “average” Big 12 team schedule in 2026 looks like this:
- 6.67 home games on average
- .73 Power-4 nonconference games on average.
And if you (correctly) don’t count Notre Dame as a Power 4 conference opponent, the leage average drops to .67 P4 nonconference games on average.
Even more telling: besides CU, only 3 Big 12 teams are playing a road nonconference game against a Power 4 opponent:
- Arizona State @ Texas A&M
- UCF @ Pitt
- Iowa State @ Iowa
BuffsBlog.com Schedule Disadvantage Index ™
To calculate the disadvantage that this puts CU’s 2026 team at relative to other Big 12 teams, I invented the BuffsBlog.com Schedule Disadvantage Index ™. Yes, I love that trademark. It needs a tagline, too – maybe it’s “Sometimes You Need a Number to Capture the Ineptitude of CU’s Athletic Scheduling”?
Here’s how it works: a team gets +1 for each P4 non-conference game, +1 for each P4 nonconference road game [in effect, a road P4 game effectively counts double], +1 for each home game shortfall with 7 as the baseline [most Big 12 teams have 7], and +.5 for each neutral site game.
What does the chart show?
CU has a schedule disadvantage score of 5.
The Big 12 average is 1.66.
The next worst team is Arizona State, with a score of 3.5.
Unbelievable.
So yes, CU isn’t just a little screwed. It’s a statistical outlier and frankly this year’s schedule is an example of AD malpractice.
One last thought on this — why hasn’t Rick George approached Northwestern about flipping the home-and-home dates? If CU could get Northwestern at home this season, it would make the OOC schedule look less daunting (although still way more difficult than other Big 12 teams’ schedules). And it’d be worth flipping the dates even if it cost CU a little bit of money.
Team-by-Team Breakdown
Arizona: 0 Power-4 nonconference games; 7 home games
Arizona State: 1 Power-4 nonconference game (@Texas A&M); 6 home games + 1 neutral site
Baylor: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (Auburn @ neutral site); 6 home games + 1 neutral site
BYU: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (Notre Dame at home); 7 home games
UCF: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (@Pitt); 7 home games
Cincinnati: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (BC at home); 7 home games
CU: 2 Power 4 non-conference games (@GT; @Northwestern); 6 home games
Houston: 0 Power 4 non-conference games; 6 home games
Iowa State: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (@Iowa); 7 home games
Kansas: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (Missouri at home); 6 home games + 1 neutral site
Kansas State: 0 Power 4 non-conference games; 7 home games
Oklahoma State: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (Oregon at home); 6 home games
TCU: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (TCU @ neutral site); 7 home games
Texas Tech: 0 Power 4 non-conference games; 7 home games
Utah: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (Arkansas at home); 7 home games
West Virginia: 1 Power 4 non-conference game (Virginia @ neutral site); 7 home games
BuffsBlog Bites
- CU needs another interior defensive lineman after New Mexico State DL Ezra Christensen was deemed to have run out of college eligibility. He already played 5 years and CU became convinced that he wouldn’t get a waiver for a 6th year of eligibility. This is a really disappointing development as the 6’2” 280-pounder finished last season with an 87 PFF grade, the third highest grade for an interior defender in college football last season. CU’s scholarship interior defensive lineman are transfers Dylan Manuel (Appalachian State), Tyler Moore (Coastal Carolina), Sedrick Smith (Maryland) and Samu Tamanupepe (San Jose State) and true freshman Domato Peko Jr. Interior DL and tight end are positions of worry right now.
- From the contra department: returning tight end starter Zach Atkins ran a 4.5 second 40-yard dash in team training this week. This is a really impressive time for the 6’4” 245 pounder. Other
- One name to keep an eye on at defensive line is Texas State DL Davarrick Woods. The 6’3” 290-pound Woods only played 177 snaps last season for the Bobcats but finished the season with a 74.2 PFF grade.
- CU received a commitment from prep running back Cam Newton (no, not that Cam Newton). Newton, who played his high school football at Walnut Grove HS outside of Dallas, rushed for 4,409 yards and 72 TDs over the last 2 years and was somehow unranked by the recruiting services. Newton will sign with CU in two weeks. We’ll have more on Newton in the next week or two here on BuffsBlog.
- CU lost players more player snaps to the transfer portal than every other team in college football, other than teams that underwent a head coaching change. CU lost 37.15% of player snaps to the portal, the 4th most overall behind Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Auburn (all of which had head coaching changes).
- CU is now at 80 scholarship commits for 2026. Of CU’s 42 transfer additions, 24 are from the G5/FCS level and 18 from P4. As I’ve written about before, I think it’s wise to increase the scholarship number to something closer to 100. Check out my very, very wise ™ thoughts on this at:
- CU has a home game on Halloween against Kanas State this upcoming season and the CU should weaponize the holiday spirit. Encourage fans to dress up as Peggy and Betty Coppom. Half of Folsom Field in drag would leave Kansas State fans staring into the abyss. Call it culture shock home-field advantage.
John’s Personal List of Good Stuff to Read, Watch, or Ignore
- I finished watching Wolf Hall. Yes, I know I’m 10 years late. But it’s fantastic. The story documents Thomas Cromwell’s rapid rise to power in the court of Henry VIII and is based on the Booker Prize winning books Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Fantastic stuff – well worth your time if you haven’t watched it. It’s worth your time even if you’re not a history nerd like me — and it’s so good it might just make you a history buff going forward. Season 2 aired last year, and I’m going to start ASAP.
- “Am I addicted to sports gambling? Are you?” A great piece on the shoddy state of gambling treatment.
https://harpers.org/archive/2026/02/on-tilt-america-gambling-epidemic-jasper-craven
- Want to read more from BuffsBlog? Check out a breakdown of the transfer class, only at:
Thanks for the breakdown on CU’s schedule. I thought it looked a little overly ambitious and now it’s clear that it’s an outlier relative to other Big 12 teams. CU used to schedule big boys because it needed to to draw crowds at Folsom. Now, however, crowds are coming for every game, not just big boy games, so it seems smarter to schedule more manageably. Thanks for your blog it’s awesome.
Great to see a new commenter.
You’re 100% right that CU has long thought it critical to schedule other power 4/5 teams regularly to draw crowds at Folsom. Now, though, it’s proving counterproductive as wins matter more than crowds in Boulder.
It’s beyond time for a new AD at Colorado.
The numbers tell the story. Thanks, John!
Where there is adversity, there is also opportunity. I’m always on the fence about a tougher OOC schedule. On the one hand we need easy W’s (plus blowout games where we can play more guys) and on the other it can provide a springboard and/or get us more prepared into the season. IMO, if we beat Ga Tech or BYU, which were close games last season, it was perhaps different. Maybe, Salter does not go into the tank. I do not think we play BYU tough, if we had not played Ga Tech or @Houston.
Upset @Ga Tech or beat @NW and we could have some momentum. One good thing with the schedule: we play three straight opponents with new HCs; 5 will have new QBs and; if decent we can I feel we can beat Utah, KSU, Houston, and UCF at home. We might be favored @Okie St or @Cinci. W v. TTech is doubtful, but I’m thankful that we don’t have to deal with BYU, Arizona, TCU, or Kansas this year.
I agree that adversity does bring about some chances for breakthrough wins. On the other side of the coin, though, is that Ws can build confidence. If CU loses 2 of its first 3 games, I have concerns that the players may check out on the season.