BOULDER — When the bully across the road gives you a wedgie on national TV, the neighbors start to worry. Get beat by little brother? The neighbors start to talk.

“I would say (CU Buffs coach) Deion Sanders needs (Saturday) more,” CBS analyst and former NFL lineman Ross Tucker, who’s in the booth for Saturday’s Rocky Mountain Showdown at Fort Collins, told me by phone earlier this week. “The reason why I say that is when things started to go south (in 2023), they really went south. (CU) did not show the ability to really handle and overcome adversity very well.

“So based on how last year went, if you’re a CU fan or if you’re a Deion fan, you see back-to-back losses to Nebraska and to CSU, two of the four teams you beat last year, you’ve got to think about how well they’ll be able to keep the team together and in a good headspace for the rest of the season. … (It’s) not even, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s, ‘These are actually two of the teams we beat last year, so we’re going in the wrong direction.’”

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Renck: The fake games are over. Time for real impressions. The Broncos enter Week 1 with a new quarterback, a dramatically reshaped roster and the insatiable hunger that comes from being young and overlooked. Now that the roster is set, did coach Sean Payton morph into Gordon Ramsay and create a culinary masterpiece, or will the Broncos once again be devoured by superior opponents? Sean, what do you think? Will the Broncos win more than their sportsbook over-under total of 5.5 victories or fall below into an abyss that nets them a top-five pick?

Keeler: Ramsay? Sunshine Sean’s been as chummy as Bobby Flay lately, my friend. Mind you, he also hasn’t lost a game in eight and a half months, so let’s see what happens once the seas get choppy. That said, Payton’s a high-floor coach with a resume that doesn’t do tank jobs. I believe in the back of the baseball card. Or football card, in this case. Which is why I believe Payton cajoles, twists and drags this roster to seven wins — at the worst.

Renck: Maybe I spent too much time in the sun this weekend, leaving me with fever dreams of adequacy, but I believe the Broncos trip the over. My prediction before camp was six victories with a wink, wink. Now? Give me six with conviction. Bo Nix might as well be Bo the Builder as the Broncos’ construction project takes shape. I think the Broncos were better after the cuts. Losing Tim Patrick hurts, but it means more targets for Courtland Sutton, and Jaleel McLaughlin will emerge as the third-down back to replace Samaje Perine. It’s not like they broke up Don “Air” Coryell’s 1970s Chargers. Denver has plenty of weapons to flirt with mediocrity.

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Bubble? What bubble? Bo Nix and Tim Patrick are a match made in Mile High Heaven.

Don’t overthink this one, Sean Payton. Nothing about a rookie quarterback is a sure thing, so you surround him with as many sure things as possible. Nix needs friends. Has a Broncos quarterback since 2020 had better friends than Patrick’s two hands?

“You get any butterflies running around Empower for the first time in forever?” I asked the Broncos’ veteran receiver Sunday night after Denver stomped what was essentially the Packers’ bench, 27-2.

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