BOULDER — The road goes through Ralphie. Deion Sanders’ Buffs host Kansas State at home in three weeks. They host Utah and Oklahoma State within 15 days in late November.

The Big 12’s path to the College Football Playoff leads left off the Turnpike and straight into the safe hands of Travis Hunter.

“The good news for CU is that the powers that be are mostly at home,” Fox Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Brock Huard told me before the Buffs faced Baylor in a home game Saturday night at Folsom Field. “But Prime will also be tested by some of the longest-running and most mature programs and cultures in all of college football.”

Worst case scenario, Coach Prime will have a say in who wins a division that is rich in balance and few in quality players. And if the stars align, Sanders could even be in the passenger seat of the CFP train.

“If (Sanders) thought – and rightly so – that North Dakota State played unselfish, physical and tough football,” Huard said, “then you just have to wait until (Oklahoma State coach Mike) Gundy, (Utah coach Kyle) Whittingham and (K-State coach Chris) Kleiman come to Boulder with the same Bison culture but bigger, faster and stronger personnel.”

Counterattack: Last year, with Ryan Staub as QB1, CU scored almost as many points against the Utes (17) as Gundy’s Pokes did on Saturday in Stillwater.

The music has barely started and things are already getting funky in this new Big 12. Arizona State was up 3-0 before the Sun Devils fell to a deadlock at Texas Tech. KU lost for the third straight game and slipped to 1-3. Cincinnati, which should be really good, has outpaced Houston to move to 3-1.

It’s as if the Big Ten West died and the Big 12 took its place as the craziest middleweight division in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Anyone could finish second. Anyone could finish eleventh. Flip a coin and hold on to it.

“I have to tell you, what I hear from my friends that I’ve known for years, the athletic directors, is that there’s more excitement in this conference now than there has been in years,” former Big 12 and Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas told me a few months ago. “Because they’ve worked incredibly well together – they’ve really given it their all, they’re all part of the team. And the joke is, ‘Everyone has a chance to win in football now because Oklahoma is leaving, and people have a chance to talk in the meetings now because Texas is leaving.’

“CU, in football – I’ll tell you what, there’s a lot of excitement in the 12-team playoffs. But I think they’re going to be very competitive (there).”

Evil AI agrees. In ESPN’s Football Power Index ratings early Saturday, no Big 12 teams were in the top 15. (The SEC had eight, the Big Ten four.) But 14 of the loop’s 16 members ranked 16-57 in the FPI, with CU ranked 55th among those league entries.

“The Big 12 may not own the best properties on the Monopoly board,” Huard said, “but they are like the four railroads, with very sustainable and reliable assets. And just like the four pieces on the property board, it’s hard to argue which is the best.”

According to FPI, it’s K-State (No. 16); then UCF (No. 17), which CU visits next weekend; then Okie State (No. 20); and Utah (No. 24), in that order. Huard prefers the Utes, Cowboys, Wildcats and Iowa State (No. 45).

“All four have their place,” Huard continued, “and the conference’s middle class isn’t far behind.”

And if the Buffs want to rise out of that middle class, a good start to league play would be a hell of an advantage historically.

Since 2003, CU has played 20 seasons without a pandemic. In 14 of those, the Buffs started league games 0-2. Only one of those teams – the 2004 CU team with Joel Klatt and Bobby Purify in the backfield – made the postseason; the other 13 missed out.

The three teams with a 1-1 start in the conference also missed a bowl, while the three with 2-0 opening records in the league all reached the postseason. Just like Karl Dorrell’s 2020 Pandemic Buffs.