Prediction season is pretty much useless now for college football fans. With what amounts to unlimited player free agency every single offseason, roster continuity – which used to be a meaningful tool with which to forecast”a particular team’s fortunes for the upcoming season – is a thing of the past in most cases. So just how do we predict how a football team will do next fall if we can only name about three of the returning players?
Deion Sanders wiped the slate clean when he arrived in Boulder, bringing in about 70 new players for the 2023 season. The Colorado Buffaloes went 4-8. Deion was a trailblazer, and his methods were new, so that wasn’t hard to predict. But now, everyone is following the same script to some degree, and almost all the teams are in the same boat.
Jim Mora Jr. had to do much the same thing – although not quite as dramatically – when he arrived at Colorado State. After another lousy season in 2025 under Jay Norvell, Mora Jr. was lured west from his job at UConn (which he did very well, by the way) and tasked with turning around the Rams’ fortunes as they join the newly remodeled Pac 12.
While the bulk of the national media prognostications have yet to come out (that flood will likely begin after the World Cup concludes) the one that has, from ESPN, picks the Rams to return to their (new) conference basement.
It’s impossible to say whether that’s fair or not, given that Mora has virtually an entire new roster from last season. All forecasters can do if they want to be anything close to accurate is to wait to watch the team practice a time or two, or fall back on Mora’s considerable track record, including his turnaround with UConn. His team went bowling last season for the third time in the past four seasons. When Mora Jr. led the Huskies to the Myrtle Beach Bowl in 2022, it was their first bowl trip since 2017.
Mora’s track record is far longer than that, of course. The veteran coach has been on a sideline somewhere for most of the past three decades, including stints as a head coach in the NFL with Atlanta and Seattle. He was the head coach at UCLA for six seasons before going to UConn, where he was in charge for another four. Overall, he’s 20 games over .500 with those two different schools.
Mora’s experience should be enough to convince some prognosticator somewhere to cut CSU a little slack and not just automatically place them at the bottom of the new Pac 12 heap. Not that it really matters. Predictions never do. Still, in order for the Rams to escape the basement – on the field and in the eyes of the football watching public – they’re going to have to make substantial improvements this season.
There is no pressure on Mora or his coaches to get to a bowl in Year One. But it is fair for the Rams’ faithful to expect better than the 2-10 mark (which should have been 1-11 since they received an officiating gift ‘W’ against Northern Colorado) of a year ago. The schedule is not all that daunting. The Rams should be able to defeat Wyoming and Southern Utah in their first two games before hosting powerhouse BYU in an old Western Athletic Conference battle. The conference slate offers a chance to win a couple more times before recruiting (and re-recruiting) season begins.
Rams fans should be okay with a 4-8 season in Year One. It’s a jumping-off point.
Everyone nationally who talks about Colorado State talks about untapped potential for the football program. If Mora – with his deep resume and veteran experience – can’t tap into that and build CSU into a consistent winner, a la Boise State or San Diego State – then perhaps no one can.
No pressure, though.
Strike 3: The only pressure on Jim Mora and CSU football is to improve Mile High Sports.
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