BOULDER – In a sport where a team’s television ratings now rival a top 25 ranking in importance, Coach Prime is the No. 1 reality TV star in college football.

“Sometimes you lose in life, you get your butt kicked and you just have to take it,” CU coach Deion Sanders said early Sunday morning, after the clock struck midnight on a Cinderella comeback and the Buffs lost 31-28 to Kansas State. “But sometimes you lose in life, you say: ‘Dang, we should’ve won that; we should’ve had that.’ And that was one of those type of games.”

With Heisman candidate Travis Hunter and standout receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. sidelined with injuries before halftime, Colorado overcame all of a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter behind 388 yards passing by quarterback Shedeur Sanders, only to have the euphoria knocked out of Folsom Field by a 50-yard touchdown scored by the Wildcats with 2 minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the game.

Coach Prime is always great TV drama.

His Buffs, however, aren’t quite ready for prime time. They’re built to dazzle, but still lack the basic fundamentals of blocking and tackling.

Yes, CU will go bowling. But this loss should shut down the loose talk about a Big 12 Conference championship or a run at the college football playoff.

On the biggest Saturday of Sanders’ stint as CU’s celebrity coach, where could he be found more than 10 hours before kickoff against the 18th-ranked Wildcats?

Sitting in front of a camera in the CU Champions Center, talking smack with Nick Saban on a hook-up with ESPN College Gameday.

“I forgive you,” Sanders shouted at Saban, for wrongly predicting the Buffs would lose to Central Florida in their Big 12 opener.

Coach Prime admonished the Crimson Tide legend for not listening to his wife and failing to heed Terry Saban’s warning to doubt the We Comin’ Bandwagon.

“Miss Terry,” Sanders added, “I love you so!”

Was firing friendly barbs at Saban a distraction to Sanders’ pregame preparation?

No way.

Prime getting more face time on national television while wearing a CU hoodie and a black cowboy hat is essential to the way that the crazy business of college football is conducted in 2024.

“We hope that Coach Prime finishes his career here,” Colorado athletic director Rick George said last week. “I think he can do significant things for us long-term. … He and I are on the same page about where we want this program to go. It’s not a short-term fix, and we want to set it up to be sustainable for the future.”

While the action on Folsom Field had serious impact on the Big 12 Conference standings and amounted to an elimination game for both the Buffs and Wildcats in the quest for a bid to the college football playoff, the number of viewers tuned in to ESPN were nearly as important to Colorado as the final score.

Since hiring Prime 22 months ago, every sound bite by him that goes viral and every hot take about Travis Hunter’s place in the Heisman Trophy race has not only put Colorado back on the college football map, but also emblazoned Boulder with the same gold star as Columbus, Austin and Tuscaloosa.

Yes, the traditions of college football have been uprooted and shaken almost beyond recognition by the riches of name, image and likeness, the tumult of the transfer portal and the madness of conference realignment.

But in an era when the end and the bag always justify the means, Prime wasn’t hired by Colorado to win a national championship as much as he was entrusted with getting the Buffs’ a seat at the big boy’s table when the calliope music stops in college football’s high-stakes game of musical chairs.

“Nothing surprises me about where the industry is going,” George said.

While nobody can predict how all the complicated details are going to be untangled, big economic forces at work are pushing college football to become a separate entity from the NCAA, with approximately 75 big-time programs becoming what amounts to pro franchises on college campuses.

And so long as CU employs Sanders, the Buffs are primed to be central players in the next major upheaval of college football’s revolution.

Things have certainly changed from December 2022, when Colorado was a football laughingstock.

“Do I think we’re better positioned today? Yes,” George said.

“We’ve always said that we need football to elevate our program. … We need football to be successful. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we still have a long season ahead of us in football, but I like where we’re positioned. I like the viewership that we’re getting. I think we’re second in the country as far as the overall viewership we’re getting. I think that bodes well for us in the future.”

With Saban looking tanned and comfy doing his retirement gig with ESPN, there’s not a college football coach with a bigger national profile than Sanders.

In the span of 22 months, Coach Prime has become bigger than CU, now proud to be best known as the home of the biggest reality TV star in college football.