Colorado football coach Deion Sanders has slightly adjusted his preseason promise to Colorado superfan Peggy Coppom.

Before the season, he vowed to get his team to a postseason bowl game in her honor. But now the Buffaloes control their own destiny in their quest for the Big 12 Conference championship. Coppom also turns 100 years old next week.

Sanders wants more for her.

“I was really dedicated to get Peggy to a bowl game,” Sanders said Tuesday at his weekly news conference in Boulder. “Now we trying to get Peggy to the game. Yeah, it was a bowl game. Now it’s the game.”

The Buffaloes (7-2) are now in position to go to the playoff — if they keep winning. If they win their final three regular-season games against Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State, they will play for the Big 12 Conference championship on Dec. 7 in Arlington, Texas. If they win that, they will get a berth in the new 12-team College Football Playoff and might even earn a first-round bye if they are among the four highest-ranked conference champions.

On Tuesday, they moved up to 17th in the playoff rankings after debuting last week at No. 20.

Deion Sanders credits ‘flipping the dern roster’ for success

This is all happening a year after the Buffs finished 4-8 in Sanders’ first season as coach − and just two years after they finished 1-11. His defense is noticeably more physical than last year, leading to a question about the transformation Tuesday.

“We flipped the dern roster, remember?” said Sanders, who was hired in December 2022. “Remember all the changes? Yeah, we flipped the roster. That probably has a lot to do with it. We got the people that we wanted. You can’t keep forgetting: We got here in December a couple of years ago, right? That’s kind of tough. Backs were up against the wall. It was kind of tough. We flipped the dern roster, and I’m proud of them. I’m proud of these young men. I’m proud of the coaching staff. Flipped that, too.”

In his first year, he overhauled the roster with an unprecedented influx of 51 scholarship transfer players in 2023, retaining just nine returning scholarship players last year out of a roster limit of 85. Then he flipped the roster again with 39 new scholarship transfers after last season. He also recast his coaching staff this year after his top two assistant coaches left for other jobs.

Deion Sanders talks Utah game

Colorado plays Utah at home in a ‘Big Noon’ game Saturday on Fox. The Utes don’t have a great record (4-5) but do have a stingy defense under head coach Kyle Whittingham. The Utes rank No. 1 nationally in third-down defense, with opponents converting only 23.8% of third downs against them. They also rank 1 in scoring defense (17.1 points allowed per game) and eighth in team pass efficiency defense (107.07).

Sanders called Whittingham a “true legend.”

“You cannot take this team lightly,” Sanders said. “I don’t give a dern what their record is. As long as he’s over there on that sideline, you better be prepared for a tough game. Thank God it’s at home and it’s early. I like it like that.”

How does the atmosphere in the SEC compare to the Big 12?

Receiver Will Sheppard transferred to Colorado from Vanderbilt and had eight catches for 79 yards and a touchdown in last week’s win at Texas Tech, where fans threw tortillas and trash on the field. On Tuesday, he was asked how the game-day atmosphere in the Big 12 compares with playing in large, hostile stadiums in the Southeastern Conference.

He didn’t try to sugarcoat it.

“Nah, it doesn’t stack up,” Sheppard said.

What is Deion Sanders earning for this stretch run?

As his team keeps winning, Sanders also is in position to keep improving his stakes. His contract with Colorado gave him $150,000 for reaching six wins and now gives him $100,000 for each additional win after that in the regular season.

“I heard you get like, you know, $100K extra per win,” his quarterback son Shedeur recently asked his father, as shown on Well Off Media. “Where mine at?”

“I don’t know what y’all talking about,” Deion Sanders replied on the video.

Sanders’ bonuses are in addition to his $5.7 million in regular guaranteed pay this year. His contract also says he will get a $450,000 bonus if his team is invited to a playoff bowl game.

Colorado’s other postseason possibilities

If the Buffaloes lose one or more of their final three regular-season games, it could drop them out of the Big 12 title game and instead land them in a non-playoff bowl game such as the Alamo, Holiday or Las Vegas bowl in late December.

Either way, this will be the Buffaloes’ best season since 2016, when they finished in the Alamo Bowl with a record of 10-4.

Fox’s ‘Big Noon’ pregame show will travel to Boulder this week for the game.

On Tuesday, Sanders was asked if he’s gotten a chance to “take a step back” to appreciate the transformation of his program.

“I never take a step back,” Sanders said. “I try to take a step up. I’m always with my head out the window: I’m trying to see around the corner, not trying to see straight ahead. It’s normalcy to see what’s in front of them. I’m trying to see around the corner.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

(This story was updated to add new information.)