College football predictions: How Air Force, CU, CSU and UNC will fare in 2023

It would be difficult for the Buffs to fare worse than they did last year, but CU’s schedule in its final Pac-12 season is no walk in the park. Despite the enormous hype surrounding Coach Prime and QB Shedeur Sanders, both are untested at the FBS level. We’ll have a better sense of just how good Prime & Co.

are after early tests at TCU and against Nebraska. A modest improvement is realistic and achievable. The Buffs’ opener against TCU will bring PrimeFest back down to earth a bit — CU may show flashes, but they’ll come up short against an established program coming off a national title game trip.

The key to CU’s turnaround — and a bowl appearance — are the rivalry games in Weeks 2 and 3 against Nebraska and Colorado State. Win both, and the seeds of Deion Sanders’ overnight roster-overhaul will begin to sprout. No matter how much you believe — or want to believe — in Coach Prime, opposing coaches don’t care.

Opposing defenses don’t care. And that schedule absolutely does not give two flying Chips about how many “Prime 21” sweatshirts you’ve stuffed into your closet. September is brutal, and whether you’re Nick Saban or Deion Sanders, brutal is brutal.

But if CU can somehow steal three wins from those opening five games, anything’s possible. Not likely, mind you. But possible.

) For all the improvements Coach Prime has made to the program over the past nine months, there’s no getting around that schedule. If the Buffs escape September (at TCU, vs. Nebraska, vs.

CSU, at Oregon, vs. USC) with a 3-2 record, just hand Prime the coach of the year award right then and there. Of course, 2-3 or (gulp) 1-4 is much more likely.

Here’s guessing the Buffs are at the very least a tough out at Folsom Field. The Rams are an inch taller at every position compared to last year, and coach Jay Norvell’s confidence going into his second season in Fort Collins is persuasive. With very few easy wins on this schedule, the Rams will need to pick off at least one of the two Power 5 schools and put up good showings against Air Force, Boise State and San Diego State to make a bowl game.

A leaky O-line made the Rams dreadful in ’22, with one of the nation’s worst offenses. But CSU’s remade front should provide different fortunes this fall. They’ll start 0-2 with close losses to Wazzu and CU, get routed by Boise State and lose to Air Force again, but the Rams will find a way to win enough close games in-conference to go bowling — and surpass CU’s win total.

History says Jay Norvell Year II beats the living pants off of Jay Norvell Year I. Which is good, because Year I was a mess. The Rams opened the season as a too-young, too-green, pass-happy team that couldn’t block a light breeze and ended it by handing it off to Avery Morrow, punting it back to the defense and hoping for the best.

If CSU can score TDs in the red zone and pull off an upset at home (Wazzu, Boise, Air Force and SDSU all visit FoCo this fall), this could get fun. And funky. This pretty much boils down to one thing: Is the Rams offensive line improved enough to keep quarterback Clay Millen from getting tossed around like a rag doll? They’ve got a lot of new faces.

And, more often than not, new faces up front need time to gel. That likely means a slow start, followed by a frantic finish. Will bowl eligibility be decided before the season finale at Hawaii? We say yes.

Prediction: 6-6 The Falcons lost some key talent in Haaziq Daniels, the program’s third-winningest quarterback, and fullback Brad Roberts, who led the nation in rushing last year. Expect Air Force to cruise to two early wins before facing a fairly challenging Mountain West lineup with big challenges at Navy and Boise State. A third consecutive 10-win season may not be on the table, but the Falcons have plenty of winning to do this year.

In the last three full college football seasons, the Falcons ripped off 11, 10 and 10 wins. Troy Calhoun knows how to win with the flexbone offense, and that won’t change this fall. The Week 7 road game at Navy will be a test, as will the two weeks after that, facing the Rams in FoCo and then Army at Empower Field.

Boise State could also be trouble in the regular season finale. But once again, Air Force will be the winningest FBS team in the state. Don’t look now, but the Zoomies might be 8-0 heading into Empower Field on Nov.

4 for that critical Commander-In-Chief Trophy showdown with Army. Ralston Valley alum Brad Roberts will be missed in the backfield but most of a killer defensive unit that allowed just 13. 4 points per game last fall is back.

AFA should make enough noise for the College Football Playoff bigwigs to keep tabs and the Zoomies are a solid bet to reach the Mountain West Championship. Death, taxes and Troy Calhoun teams methodically moving the football. Opening the season with games against Robert Morris and Sam Houston is a nice way to break in a new starting quarterback.

Getting San Diego State at home is a bonus, too. One look at Navy last Saturday is enough to know this much: The Commander-In-Chief Trophy will almost certainly come down to the Zoomies’ Nov. 4 game against Army at Empower Field.

On one hand, new coach Ed Lamb won a Big Sky championship with Southern Utah and comes with a BYU pedigree. On the other hand, three of the Bears’ opponents are ranked in the preseason Top 25: No. 8 Sacramento State, No.

13 Idaho and No. 14 Montana. An infusion of talent and experience via transfers should help UNC stay competitive, but this season will be a grind.

Following the failed Ed McCaffrey Experiment that produced consecutive 3-8 seasons, UNC turns to Ed Lamb to turn around the program. It’s hard to see the Bears’ fortunes changing drastically this fall, especially with a couple guaranteed beatdowns on the schedule in Washington State and Sacramento State. Coaches, privately, tell you that Ed Lamb is an upgrade over Ed McCaffrey.

They also follow up by admitting that isn’t saying much. After throwing a Hail Mary that landed 17 yards south of the end zone, the Bears are hoping that the BYU family tree bears fruit where the Eddie Mac tree didn’t. Just probably won’t be this fall, though.

Unfortunately, Ed McCaffrey left behind a rebuild that’s going to take Ed Lamb more than one offseason to construct. And probably more than two. The Orediggers’ path to the best record in Colorado won’t be without challenges, starting with the season opener against No.

3 Grand Valley State. But with Harlon Hill Trophy-winning quarterback John Matocha returning and 17 sixth-year seniors on the roster, Mines has experience on its side. High-flyin’ Mines has been the most exciting college football team in the state over the past few years, culminating in last year’s run to the Division-II title game.

Expect the Orediggers to again be nationally competitive, despite being on their third head coach (Pete Sterbick) in as many seasons. There are few defenses on Mines’ schedule that will be able to contain 2022 Harlon Hill Award winner, QB John Matocha. The team’s opener against No.

3-ranked Grand Valley State may be the only foe who can keep the Orediggers from an undefeated regular season. New coach, same ‘Diggers. More or less.

Eight starters are back on defense, while QB John Matocha is 36-6 in his last 42 starts. If Mines can navigate a whale of a conference opener against Grand Valley State, another Division II national-title contender, an unbeaten regular season could be in the cards. And then the real fun begins.

At this point, does it really matter who the coach is? John Matocha could operate the Orediggers’ offense in his sleep. And he’s just one of 38 (!) red-shirt seniors on the roster. That’s a whole lot of experience — all of it of the winning variety.

The only real question with this team is whether or not it can finish the job in December. .