BOULDER — How long has it been? The Broncos were only a year removed from a winning record. Taylor Swift was still dating actor Joe Alwyn.

How long has it been? Shedeur Sanders was 15 the last time CU was a road favorite in a Pac-12 game that fans were allowed to attend.

“This week is more about expectations than many of the other weeks,” first-year Buffs football coach Deion Sanders said a few days back when asked about his 3-2 squad’s visit to 1-4 Arizona State on Saturday. “Because that’s the expectation that we have of ourselves, to go in and win this game. You want to win every game. But, I mean, you really expect to win some games a lot more than others.”

Vegas expects Coach Prime to seal the deal. Oddsmakers have tapped CU as a 3.5-to-4-point favorite in Tempe — and if that feels unusual, well, that’s because it is.

It’s the first time the Buffs have been listed as a favorite on the road in a conference game since December 2020 (at Arizona) and a first for the program in a non-pandemic, standard season since October 2017, when CU was a 10-point favorite visiting 1-5 Oregon State. The Buffs rallied to beat the Beavers that day on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Steven Montez to Bryce Bobo with 1:34 left in the tilt, securing a 36-33 victory.

Over the last nine seasons, Saturday is only the third time over their last 34 Pac-12 road games in which the Buffs can’t play the underdog card.

“I don’t really understand what a ‘get-right’ game is,” Shedeur Sanders, the Buffs’ starting quarterback, said when asked whether the Sun Devils matchup provided a good chance to snap a two-game losing skid.

“But we approach each game with the same mindset and just go out there (to) dominate and just take everything play by play. So on the road, it’s not really (much different) to being at home. The game is the game at the end of the day. Every field’s 100 yards that we’re playing (on), and we’ve just gotta go out there and execute.”

They also need to try to go about executing that plan from the get-go. The Buffs haven’t “won” a first quarter since the initial 15 minutes of the season, outscoring TCU on the road 7-0 thanks to a 73-yard scoring drive on the offense’s inaugural drive of the Coach Prime Era.

Over the four games that followed — wins vs. Nebraska and CSU, and losses to No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 USC — CU has been outscored in the first stanza by a cumulative margin of 41-14.

The Buffs head into Tempe averaging 11.6 points per first half, which is tied for 83rd nationally with Iowa and just a few spots ahead of CSU at No. 86 (11.3 per game). Fortunately for Sanders and CU, the Sun Devils have been even slower to get going, averaging 8.8 points per first half, a clip that 107th.

“We’ve just got to have a consistency and a continuation, especially early on,” the elder Sanders said. “The challenge and the goal this week (is), we’ve got to win the first and second quarters. That’s the challenge and that’s the goal — we’re gonna win the first and second quarters.”

The Buffs have won just once at Mountain America Stadium over seven visits, during Mel Tucker’s Pac-12 debut at CU four years ago. And CU used a fast start then to stun the favored Sun Devils, storming to a 14-0 cushion in the first quarter on an Alex Fontenot touchdown run and a scoring pass from Montez to Tony Brown.

The hosts rallied to tie the game at 14-all and 21-all in the second quarter. Both sides traded punches the rest of the way before CU landed the last shot, a 44-yard James Stefanou field goal with 2:03 to go in the game that cinched a 34-31 win.

Brown racked up 150 receiving yards and three TD catches, while Montez threw for 337 yards and three scores.

CU could use similar offensive heroics this time around from the younger Sanders and new favorites such as freshman Omarion Miller, given that the Buffs will be without two-way star Travis Hunter for at least two more games.

“Our expectations of ourselves are a lot more lofty than expectations that you may have of us,” Sanders told reporters. “But we have tremendous expectations for this season. And we’re just getting started with it. We really are.”