As the losses have piled up, so has the criticism for Deion Sanders in his first season at Colorado.

Some of it has been fair, from some questionable play-calling decisions to clock management. But some — like suggesting Coach Prime and company would be better off with more players from last year’s Buffaloes team — simply isn’t.

One year ago CU was down 42-0 at halftime against Utah, looking like a junior varsity team for the 11th time in a 12-game season.

After 10 weeks this season, Sanders has already quadrupled the win total. Yes, the team is 1-6 after a 3-0 start, but the product has also been better each week.

One statistic has been used plenty of times: the number of scholarships holdovers is at single digits. But would a handful more players from last year’s 1-11 team really make that much of a difference?

The majority of the transfers ended up outside of the Power 5 conferences. The few that did wind up at big programs, CU has faced almost all of them this season.

Nikko Reed has 13 tackles and five pass breakups as part of the cornerback rotation at Oregon. Na’im Rodman has 23 tackles and two for loss on Washington State’s defensive line.

The two biggest (and arguably best) performances this season have come from two players at Arizona who helped deliver a win at Folsom Field last week. Wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig has 25 catches for 250 yards and two touchdowns, while edge rusher Taylor Upshaw, who was at CU for spring practices, has 7.5 sacks for the Wildcats.

Could the current Buffs use a player like Rodman in the defensive tackle rotation right now? No doubt.

Would Lemonious-Craig see the field on offense? Sure.

They definitely could use Upshaw’s production on the edge.

The same goes for offensive lineman Casey Roddick, a multi-year starter at CU now contributing for an undefeated Florida State team. But he entered the transfer portal before Coach Prime was hired and seemed set on playing elsewhere this year.

Of course,…