BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado Buffaloes football fans said even though the team didn't secure a place in the Big 12 championship game, they're hardly disappointed in their performance this season.
Katie Terrell Wiemann and Kay Gordon are in a newly-established fan group called the CU Aunties. They founded the club along with other women across the country to support Head Coach Deion Sanders and the team.
"Sure, I’m sure a lot of people were like, 'Oh man, I have to cancel my hotel reservation, flight reservation,' and that’s just all normal, but there’s just a lot of joy," Terrell Wiemann said. "And there’s a lot of joy for next year too."
"We're from all over," Gordon said. "From California to New York, a bunch of ladies who love football, embrace the culture, Boulder community, and also we just enjoy Coach Prime and the boys, who we call our nephews."
This is the club's second season. They formed at the start of CU's "Prime Effect" in 2023.
Gordon said she's been a fan of Coach Prime since he played for the Dallas Cowboys. When he signed on to coach at CU, she thought about how she could continue to support him beyond his NFL career.
"One day, I looked up tickets, I looked up flights and I said, 'Oh my God, I’m going,'" Gordon said. "It’s been great and I’ve been going since."
Gordon said she's flown from California to Colorado for at least six games and has been welcomed with open arms by fellow Aunties and fans.
She said part of the reason she wanted to create the club was for people who didn't have connections to Boulder outside of being fans of the football team, so everyone had a community.
"Boulder has been absolutely wonderful," Gordon said. "I have not had a bad experience."
Gordon said even though the team isn't closing out their season with a championship title, she's still proud of her "nephews."
"Coach Prime set an expectation out at the beginning of the season and we accomplished that," Gordon said. "We got Miss Peggy to a bowl game!"
Terrell Wiemann is a CU alum and said she's seen the program be revitalized in recent years by Coach Prime.
"You know, I was looking at an old picture of myself, my college roommate, my husband in the stands in the fall of 2022 and all around us were a lot of empty seats," Terrell Wiemann said. "Then, we go to the fall of 2023. There’s excitement, there’s expectation and there’s hope. And I think that’s the other part of it's bigger than football. There’s something else out there to root for and be hopeful for."
Terrell Wiemann said she'd been hopeful even through the team's darker days, but now, she's ready to celebrate CU's wins with everyone.
"Sure, it was 4-8, but that was a step up from 1-11 and then, 9-3," Terrell Wiemann said, walking through past season records. "Like 9-3, as the Colorado Buffaloes, going into a bowl game, we’re really proud of our nephews and I’m just proud of the fans and culture. It’s just a winning culture out here and we have a lot to be excited for."
Gordon and Terrell Wiemann said Sanders is setting the tone for the future of the institution and laying the foundation of what CU football can be.
"Going back to the lackluster, quiet years, I think it’s really important to remember where we sat, where we’re coming from and where we’re going," Terrell Wiemann said. "We’re at the middle of the mountain. We're not the top of the mountain, not the bottom of the mountain, the middle, and that’s a really good place to be."
CU has not won a bowl game in 20 years. Matchups are set to be released Dec. 8.