HOUSTON — Screens won’t save Deion Sanders’ dreams.
Georgia Tech left a bruise. Houston left four or five. But come on, folks.
Do you really trust CU Buffs freshman quarterback Julian Lewis in the hands of Pat Shurmur? Would you really let Pencil Pat take your Lamborghini out for a test drive while he leaves the parking brake on?
One win in three games calls for drastic measures. Not desperate ones.
If Coach Prime is going to change quarterbacks again, he needs to change play-callers, too.
Give Byron Leftwich a go. Heck, let ChatGPT have a crack.
Because in the very small, very painful sample size we’ve seen since March, the combination of Shurmur at offensive coordinator and Lewis at QB has only three gears. 1. WR Screen; 2. Hand off; 3. Reverse.
Look, we get it. A lost season needs some silver lining. If you’re not pushing all the chips in for the “now,” you need to be pushing them toward the future.
At 1-2 and with an October dance card that features TCU (Oct. 4), Iowa State (Oct. 11) and Utah (Oct. 25), the “now” looks murky.
Even if Lewis isn’t good enough to play right now, the five-star freshman is too famous to sit forever. If you’re doomed to go 4-8 again, give the locals something to cling to while they’re stuck riding over the bumps. If you’re going to get buried in the Big 12 standings, might as well plant seeds for the future. Right?
Coach Prime has coached himself into a serious pickle, and I’m not sure he knows a quick/painless/easy way out. Sanders’ QB waffling might be framed as meritocracy with a brave, even defiant, public face. But behind the curtain, things are on fire.
“I like the plan,” Sanders, 1-2 for the first time in his three seasons at CU, said after a 36-20 loss at Houston. “I mean, I meet with the coordinators before we even get on the plane … so I know … what I want to see. I kind of know what we’re planning to do. But I’m telling you, man, we had a wonderful week of practice, a wonderful week of preparation. So I’m still dumbfounded on what transpired.”
If AI could combine the experience and legs of Kaidon Salter, the upside of Ju Ju Lewis and the comfort of Ryan Staub with Shurmur Ball, Coach Prime would have the perfect signal-caller. Instead, he’s got three separate strengths stuck in three different bodies. And whenever Sanders plays one of them, opponents have pretty quickly found a way to exploit the pieces they don’t bring to the table.
If Staub were a pitcher, he’d be a relief specialist. A long man. A LOOGY (Lefty One-Out Guy). When the dude’s running a two-minute drill, pedal to the metal, he looks like the second coming of Shedeur Sanders. When Staub’s running anything else, he turns into JT Shrout.
Maybe Sanders could start Salter until the final three minutes of each half, then turn the offense over to Staub to run wild and maximize whatever time the Buffs have left.
It sounds loopy when you say it out loud. Then again, so does holding a public tryout for QB1 during a Week 2 game before a national TV audience.
Yet here we are.
“We’re crossing some bridges to find out who our best guys are, still,” Shurmur said during a news conference after CU’s 31-7 home victory over Delaware.
“In the NFL, we had the three preseason games, right? This would be preseason Game 2. (But) along the way here, you’re battling for victories, right?”
Right. When you’re not practicing incompletions.
Also: What?
It’s mid-September, Pat. You should’ve crossed those bridges in August. You should’ve ticked some of those boxes in April.
The half-full pro-Prime camp contends CU will be better in November once they’ve worked out the kinks. Maybe so. But I’ve got bad news for Shurmur on that front: The Big 12 isn’t going to wait around for the Buffs to get right.
And it’s hard to see Predictable Pat doing much of anything for Lewis’ development. CU ran the ball on 10 of its opening 13 first-down plays at Houston on Friday. At one point, Shurmur rushed it on first down six straight times.
Against Tech two weekends ago, the Buffs ran on nine of their opening 13 first-down tries. CU rushed it seven straight times on first down against the Jackets midway through the game.
Notice a pattern? So can everybody else. If the “now” really is about prepping Ju Ju, the Buffs can’t afford to stand Pat.
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