Initial observations from the CU Buffs’ 31-7 win over the Delaware Blue Hens in a Week 2 showdown in Boulder:
1. Julian Lewis or Kaidon Salter? Nope. Ryan Staub was CU’s QB star: Did Deion Sanders just Staub Kaidon Salter in the back? And what do you do if the best quarterback to run a Pat Shurmur offense is the guy the fans want to see the least? Welp. Here we are. With 45 seconds left in the first half, Coach Prime went with the third man in the Buffs’ QB competition — Staub, a sophomore — to run the 1-minute drill. After two sketchy throws, Staub, who has the most experience with Shurmur, CU’s offensive coordinator, found wideout Sincere Brown up the sideline. Then he found his rhythm. Staub steered the Buffs to three TD drives in his four possessions. Salter accounted for one in his first three drives and got booed by the home crowd with 6:30 left in the game. Lewis, meanwhile, went 0-for-2. Like the spring game, he was smothered by the pass rush on obvious throwing downs. If Coach Prime doesn’t start Staub in a road test at Houston on Friday, No. 16 should at least be the No. 2 option.
2. Run defense progress?: Meanwhile, the other elephant in the Buffs’ room — its run defense took steps forward relative to the Georgia Tech opener, but they were baby ones. The Buffs bit on a zone-read fake on Delaware’s first drive as tailback Jo Silver opened the game by gashing CU for a 10-yard gain. Nick Tyree started the Hens’ second series with an 8-yard run. Silver collected 32 yards in his first eight carries. Take out QB Nick Minicucci’s five carries for net minus-1 yards, and Delaware gained 47 yards on its other 13 rush attempts in the first half. The Hens converted a fourth-and-1 with a Minicucci keeper fairly easily. But the Buffs bucked up when faced with the same scenario at the CU 6, as linebacker Jeremiah Brown stuffed Viron Ellison Jr. for a 1-yard loss to give the ball back to the hosts.
3. Wide receivers showcased: Coach Prime was peeved about a number of subjects during his postgame news conference following the Georgia Tech loss. But one of the less-reported concerns was his insistence that his wide receivers didn’t see enough of the ball against the Yellow Jackets. The Buffs addressed that in a big way against Delaware. CU made sure that six different wideouts touched the ball over the first three quarters. At the start of the fourth stanza, the Buffs had already gotten two of their best outside targets at least 55 receiving yards — Sincere Brown (120 yards with a score through three quarters) and Joseph Williams (55 yards on four grabs).
4. Special teams largely special: Sanders promised better special teams across the board, too. Over the first two weekends of the season, the Buffs have made some clear strides on that front. Quentin Gibson’s first punt return of the afternoon turned into a 14-yard jaunt. Punter Damon Greaves placed two of his first three boots inside the Delaware 20. And since Sept. 21 of last year, kicker Alejandro Mata had connected on 12 of his last 13 field-goal attempts. The Buffs even added a block to the party, as defensive lineman Amari McNeil deflected a Blue Hens punt with 1:38 left in the third quarter and CU recovered at the Delaware 24. While Coach Prime’s raised some eyebrows in the other two phases of the game, this one hasn’t flashed a lot of complaints so far.
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