If what’s left of November is anything to go by, then the Colorado Buffaloes have to win three of their last four games or start planning for 2027.

As it stands, those are the terms for a team sitting at 3-5 with Arizona State, Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF left on the schedule. Six wins means a bowl trip, and anything less means the offseason starts the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Colorado’s offense ranks last in the Big 12 at 21 points per game, and the Buffaloes lead the league in penalties, so coach Deion Sanders can’t afford to wait on anybody. Usually, a stretch run like this belongs to the veterans. With this roster, a few of the youngest players could decide how November goes.

There is also a rule working in Colorado’s favor. Under the NCAA’s redshirt rule, a player can appear in up to four games in a season without using a year of eligibility, which gives the staff room to lean on freshmen who haven’t hit that number yet.

Kaneal Sweetwyne, Quarterback

Colorado’s most telling quarterback decision of the season came in the fourth quarter at Oklahoma State. With the game out of reach, Sanders pulled starting quarterback Isaac Wilson and sent in Sweetwyne ahead of redshirt freshman Julian Lewis, who started the first four games and hasn’t appeared since halftime at Baylor.

The true freshman went 3-of-5 for 63 yards, and one of those completions went for 51 yards, the longest Colorado pass of the night. He also became the fifth different quarterback Sanders has used since former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders left for the NFL.

Sweetwyne is a 6-3, 195-pound dual-threat from Skyridge High School in Lehi, Utah, where he threw for 3,050 yards and 32 touchdowns and ran for 907 more as a senior. He gave up the final months of his senior year to enroll in January, which tells you how badly he wanted a head start.

Having played in three games, he can appear in one more and keep his redshirt. Wilson is still the starter, but the backup job looks like Sweetwyne’s, and an offense that has needed a relief pitcher twice this season will probably need one again.

Xavier Payne, Offensive Tackle

On paper, Payne’s role can’t grow much, because the true freshman has been Colorado’s left tackle since his first start against Texas Tech in early October. His importance is a different story, and it keeps climbing.

Against Kansas State, Colorado played just five offensive linemen for the first time this season, with Leon Bell sliding from right tackle to right guard and Sean Kinney anchoring the middle. A rotation that thin leaves nowhere for a freshman to hide, and Payne handled every snap through regulation and overtime.

Protection has been Colorado’s sore spot all year. The Buffaloes have allowed 17 sacks through eight games, and the 6-7, 320-pound early enrollee from Orlando is the one guarding the quarterback’s blind side.

Payne arrived as a consensus three-star prospect, and he has played well above that ranking. With three seasons of eligibility left after this one, he is the closest thing Colorado has to a long-term answer at the most important spot on the line.

Rodney Colton Jr., Linebacker

Injuries tend to hand freshmen their biggest chances, and Colorado’s linebacker room got one in Waco. Middle linebacker Tyler Martinez, the defense’s green-dot signal caller, suffered a potentially season-ending injury against Baylor, and Colton has rotated in behind linebacker Gage Goldberg since.

The 6-1, 225-pound freshman from Newnan, Georgia, held offers from Ohio State, LSU, Oregon and Georgia, and ESPN ranked him the No. 23 linebacker in his class. He finished his senior season at Newnan High School with 57 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four sacks, and three defensive touchdowns.

Better still, he is learning next to linebacker Gideon Lampron, who leads the Big 12 in tackles for loss in conference play, under defensive coordinator Chris Marve, who also coaches the linebackers himself. Colton won’t have to be the star of this defense, only a reliable piece of it.

Fellow freshman linebacker Carson Crawford had appeared in only two games as of mid-October, so he could still see spot duty over the final month without losing his redshirt.

None of this guarantees a bowl trip, and Colorado will need its veterans to carry most of the load. Sanders, for one, still believes the best version of this team hasn’t shown up yet.

“One day, this season, we’re going to put it all together,” Sanders said Tuesday.