Only the second meeting ever between these two, and both sides are showing up with a brand-new starting quarterback and a season's worth of things to prove.
Bush’s Picks
COLOCIN
COLOCIN
OverUnder
Best BetCincinnati
Cincinnati brings the more stable setup into this one — Satterfield's in year 4 with continuity on staff, while Colorado is again starting over at quarterback and half the roster. Early modeling already leans Bearcats, and until Lewis proves he can run Colorado's new offense, that's the safer side to back.
Colorado
+Deion's staff rebuilt with new OC and DC hires
+42 transfers added, real talent infusion
+Holds 2-0 all-time series edge over Cincinnati
−Finished 2025 just 3-9, lost last 5 games
−Julian Lewis unproven as new starting QB
−Total roster overhaul risks chemistry issues
Cincinnati
+Satterfield enters year 4, staff continuity intact
+Went 7-6, 5-4 Big 12 in 2025
+Landed proven high-volume passer JC French
−Lost longtime starter Sorsby to Texas Tech portal
−Dropped bowl game to Navy, faded late
−Still tagged as team that hasn't broken through
Deion Sanders is heading into year 4 in Boulder without the son who defined years 2 and 3. Shedeur Sanders is off in the NFL now, and Colorado's building around Julian Lewis as the new starter, with a rebuilt staff behind him — new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion and new defensive coordinator Chris Marve both came in this offseason. Cincinnati's dealing with its own quarterback turnover, just from the other direction: longtime starter Brendan Sorsby bolted for Texas Tech in the portal, and Scott Satterfield replaced him with JC French, a Georgia Southern transfer who put up 5,882 yards and 38 touchdowns at his old stop.
The programs are coming off very different 2025s. Colorado cratered to 3-9 overall and 1-8 in Big 12 play, closing the year on a five-game losing streak that made the coaching staff overhaul feel less like a choice and more like a necessity. Cincinnati actually had a decent year — 7-6 overall, 5-4 in the Big 12 — but it faded down the stretch and dropped its bowl game to Navy, which is part of why the Bearcats keep getting described as a program that has the pieces but still hasn't broken through in this league.
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COLO Colorado
CIN Cincinnati
This is only the second all-time meeting between these two, and history says nothing about who wins this one. Colorado took the first matchup back in 1972, and then beat Cincinnati again in 2024 in Boulder, 34-23. That's a 2-0 series edge for the Buffs heading into their first-ever trip to Nippert Stadium.
Colorado Buffaloes
Nov 13?vs Houston—
Nov 6?@ Arizona State—
Oct 30?vs Kansas State—
Oct 16?vs Utah—
Oct 2?vs Texas Tech—
Sep 25?@ Baylor—
Sep 19?@ Northwestern—
Sep 12?vs Weber State—
Sep 3?@ Georgia Tech—
Cincinnati Bearcats
Nov 13?@ Iowa State—
Nov 6?@ Houston—
Oct 30?vs Utah—
Oct 16?@ West Virginia—
Oct 2?@ Arizona—
Sep 25?vs Kansas State—
Sep 19?vs Miami (OH)—
Sep 12?vs Western Carolina—
Sep 5?vs Boston College—
Recent form.
Colorado's answer to last year's disaster wasn't subtle — the Buffs brought in 42 transfers and reshaped more than half the roster, which is either the reset this program needed or a chemistry experiment that takes time to gel. Lewis inherits a talented but unfamiliar cast, and how fast he builds rhythm with new-look skill positions will say a lot about where Colorado actually is by late November. French, meanwhile, gets a full offseason to install his game in Cincinnati's system, but replacing a four-year starter is never seamless, no matter how gaudy the transfer stat line looks on paper.
Colorado Buffaloes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Cincinnati Bearcats
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
By the time this one kicks off it's basically the back stretch of the Big 12 slate, so both staffs will have a real body of work to judge instead of offseason projections. Whichever quarterback room has settled in by then — Colorado's post-Shedeur reset or Cincinnati's French experiment — probably decides who's still playing for something in November and who's just playing out the string.
