After a midseason filled with transfers, harsh criticism and breathtaking praise, lawsuits, media bans and, of course, all-access videos, the Colorado Buffaloes return to the field on Thursday when they host North Dakota State.

Of course, it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

“The world is watching,” said head coach Deion Sanders.

Coach Prime is back, although he never really left, which is a testament to the attention he creates and commands. After all, CU went 4-8 last year.

Are the Buffs going to be good? Are they going to disappoint? Is this going to be a train wreck? Is this going to be a glorious ascension? Will Sanders leave Boulder at the end of the season?

“I just started playing American football in college,” he said this week.

No one knows anything, except that as of Thursday, all the outside noise — positive and negative — will no longer matter. If the Prime experiment is going to work in FBS football, let alone Boulder, winning is really all that matters.

“I love the squad that we’ve put together,” Sanders said this week. “I love what I see every day, not just from the players, but from the coaching staff. Those guys challenge those guys to do their jobs at a high level.”

Sanders never did anything like anyone else. He promoted himself as a defensive player. He played in the NFL and MLB at the same time. He talked. He showed off. He never gave up. He constantly took on new challenges.

When he wanted to become a coach, he opted for a job as a college head coach — at HBCU Jackson State — rather than join an NFL staff. He recruited five-star prospects anyway.

Now he’s entering his second season at CU, with a roster built through the portal and a head coach who barely pays attention to high school prospects. That’s not how it normally works. Prime doesn’t care.

He also claims he’s not worried about the doubters – from rival coaches to the media and fans – who are outright predicting this won’t work.

It’s not important to prove them wrong, he claims again. It’s just winning that matters.

“You don’t really care because it doesn’t affect you,” Sanders said. “I’ve never read an article or an outside commentary and said, ‘Oh, that’s going to make me go harder.’ I’m going to go hard no matter what …

“It doesn’t drive me,” he continued. “Where I come from drives me. How I was raised drives me. As an African-American, one of the few who is a head coach in college football, that drives me.”

Sanders took over a 1-11 team a year ago and turned the roster around through the transfer portal, filming nearly every move. The Buffs started strong, winning their first three games and drawing huge television ratings and celebrity-filled sidelines.

Then things went wrong and it ended with a 1-8.

Sanders was undeterred, and kept the transfer turnstiles spinning. The club is built around his son Shadeur, a potential NFL first-round draft pick at quarterback, and two-way sensation Travis Hunter. Still, Prime believes his team is better in the trenches, will run the ball better and has much more depth than it did a year ago.

In a normal situation, a coach who goes from one win to four to, say, six would be successful. This is not normal. Is six enough? How about eight? In the past, Sanders has talked about competing for national championships. Now, he doesn’t have any expectations.

“Even when I played the game, I never talked about what I was going to do, contrary to what you all believe,” Sanders said. “I want to win, for sure. You’d have to be an idiot if you didn’t want to win in life or if you didn’t want to win as a coach. That’s just stupidity if you don’t want to do that.”

He kept it simple.

“I expect to do some great things,” he said.

There are enough people who want to see him succeed. There are enough people who want to see him fail.

The time of talk, hype, fights, controversies, stories and speculation is over.

It’s all about winning now, with the (college football) world watching.