Deion Sanders wants everyone to keep on ignoring his red-hot Colorado Buffaloes team

Against his better wishes, Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes enter Week 10 as the No. 23 team in the land. The Buffs are on a bye week, but they got 152 points from the Associated Press in their latest AP Top 25 Poll. To be frank, any 6-2 team that is 4-1 in Big 12 play should probably be cracking the AP Top 25 anyway, but that is not the point. The point is Colorado is lying down in the tall grass.

This was a program that was incredibly noisy this past offseason, coming off a complicated 4-8 season. CU went 3-0 in the non-conference with wins over TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State before going 1-8 in Pac-12 play with only one conference win over Arizona State. Sanders was incredibly abrasive during a press conference on his birthday and a few days after he became a grandfather.

Regardless, I saw the Buffaloes improving once again this season but only tabbed them as a 5-7 team. They will play at least 13 games this year after achieving bowl eligibility. Even more important, CU is one of four teams with a good to great shot of winning the Big 12. Right now, they are coming up fourth to BYU, Iowa State and Kansas State, in that order. Plus, they already lost to Kansas State.

Truth be told, Sanders would not have it any other way, as he has his team ready to play Big 12 spoiler.

Colorado's chances of making the College Football Playoff are slim, but no one wants to play them.

Deion Sanders would prefer that we keep on doubting his Colorado team

Looking at Colorado's four remaining Big 12 games after this weekend's bye, I think there is a chance they can win out. At Texas Tech could be challenging, as could the Rumble in the Rockies with rival Utah. Keep in mind that date with the Utes will be in Boulder. After that will be a road date vs. a flightless Kansas team, followed up by a home date vs. an increasingly lifeless Oklahoma State team.

For Colorado to semi-realistically get to Arlington, the Buffs need to win out and finish the regular season at 10-2 (8-1). It would require Kansas State dropping a second game, preferably to Iowa State in Farmageddon. After that, CU would need either BYU or the Clones to drop a game, maybe two. Since Colorado does not play BYU or Iowa State this year, I don't know the one-loss tiebreaker rule.

Ultimately, I applaud Sanders and Colorado for staying the course after a few road bumps along the way. Losing to traditional rival Nebraska might be what keeps the Buffs out of the playoff altogether. The Huskers' defeat is looking worse and worse by the week. Falling to long-time rival Kansas State did not help, but can be overcome in Big 12 play. The problem is BYU and Iowa State still have not lost.

In the meantime, we can all continue to doubt Sanders and Colorado going forward at our own peril.