Extraordinary Statistic Shows How Far Colorado’s Offense Has Come Under Deion, Shedeur Sanders

The Buffaloes’ year-over-year turnaround has defied expectations.

It’s a line that has been repeated ad nauseam: Colorado was one of the worst teams in the country in 2022.

The Buffaloes limped to a 1-11 record, tying the 2012 team for the lowest winning percentage in program history. Coach Karl Dorrell was sacked midseason. Colorado gave up 40 points or more on 10 different occasions.

That’s part of what has made Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders’s turnaround so impressive, and one statistic tweeted by ESPN’s David Hale on Friday night showed precisely how far the Buffaloes have come.

Per Hale, Colorado surpassed its passing yardage total from the entire 2022 season in the first quarter against Stanford ... in just its seventh game of the season.

It’s the first quarter of Game 7 and Colorado has officially surpassed its total passing yards from 2022.

— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) October 14, 2023

Indeed, the Buffaloes passed for 2,075 yards in all of 2022. They entered their game against the Cardinal having thrown for 2,023 yards, a mark they quickly zoomed past en route to a 14-0 lead.

Though sometimes overshadowed in a conference crawling with high-quality quarterback play — USC's Caleb Williams, Oregon's Bo Nix and Washington's Michael Penix Jr., to name a few—Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has proven to be a star-caliber starter beyond his famous last name.