BOULDER — The road runs through Ralphie. Deion Sanders’ Buffs host Kansas State in three weeks. During a 15-day period in late November, they host Utah and Oklahoma State.

The road from the Big 12 to the College Football Playoff turns left off the turnpike and into the safe hands of Travis Hunter.

“The good news for CU is you have the power players largely at home,” Fox Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Brock Huard told me before the Buffs went into a homecoming battle against Baylor on Saturday night at Folsom Field. “But Prime is also going to be tested by some of the most longstanding and mature programs and cultures in all of college football.”

At worst, Coach Prime will have a say in who wins a league that looks parity and blueblood. If enough stars align, Sanders could even see himself as a co-rider on the CFP train.

“If (Sanders) was right to think that North Dakota State played a selfless, physical, tough brand of football,” Huard said, “just wait until (Oklahoma State coach Mike) Gundy, (Utah coach Kyle) Whittingham and (K-State coach Chris) Klieman come to Boulder with the same Bison culture, but with bigger, faster, stronger personnel.”

Counterargument: CU scored nearly as many points against the Utes (17) last year with Ryan Staub as QB1 as Gundy’s Pokes Saturday in Stillwater.

The music has only just started and this new Big 12 is already doing all sorts of funky things. Arizona State was on its way to a 3-0 heat before the Sun Devils hit a wall at Texas Tech. KU lost its third straight game to fall to 1-3. Cincinnati, which should have been kicking rocks, scared the living daylights out of Houston to pull ahead 3-1.

It’s like the Big Ten West died and the Big 12 took its place as the Football Bowl Subdivision’s craziest middleweight league. Anyone can finish second. Anyone can finish 11th. Flip a coin and hold on tight.

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

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

Evil AI agrees. In ESPN’s Football Power Index ratings from Saturday morning, there were no Big 12 teams in the top 15. (The SEC had eight; the Big Ten had four.) But 14 of the loop’s 16 members ranked No. 16 on the FPI, with CU ranking 12th among those league participants at No. 55.

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

The FPI says 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 favors the Utes, Cowboys, Wildcats and Iowa State (No. 45).

“There’s a case to be made for all four,” Huard continued, “and the middle of the conference isn’t that far behind.”

And if the Buffs want to rise above the middle of the pack, a good start to the season, historically speaking, would help a lot.

Since 2003, CU has gone 20 pandemic-free seasons. In 14 of those, the Buffs opened the regular season 0-2. Only one of those teams — the 2004 CU team with Joel Klatt and Bobby Purify in the backfield — has rebounded and reached the postseason; the other 13 have missed the boat.

The three teams that started 1-1 in conference play also missed a bowl, while the three that went 2-0 in the opener all reached the postseason. So did Karl Dorrell’s 2020 pandemic Buffs.