BOULDER — Where’s the harm in at least trying Drew Carter at quarterback, Buffs?
What do you have to lose? Other than more football games?
“We’re going to (assess) that this week, since we have some time,” CU coach Karl Dorrell said after his Buffs fell for a fourth consecutive time on Saturday, this one a 37-14 shellacking at the hands of the USC Trojans. “Maybe this is a 1-2 machine (at quarterback) now, (and) we’ll give both these guys a chance to develop and go.”
Although, it should be noted, Dorrell said something similar two weeks ago, after a so-so Minnesota Gophers bunch munched and punched its way to a 30-0 win in Boulder:
“We’re going to give Drew Carter (some looks), because he did (offer) some glimpse of positives,” Dorrell offered at the time, “(and) get him ready to possibly be in there. We need to bring along both of these guys.”
Carter snaps at Arizona State: 0.
Carter snaps vs. USC: 0.
It might be time, coach.
Yes, the Buffs (1-4, 0-2 Pac-12) were more efficient in the passing game against the Trojans (3-2, 2-2 Pac-12) than they were against the Gophers — starting quarterback Brendon Lewis had 162 passing yards Saturday compared to just 82 a fortnight ago. The nimble freshman out of Texas completed 10 of 17 throws versus USC after posting an 8-for-16 day against Minnesota.
But while there’s small progress, old problems for Lewis remain. Pocket awareness. Pocket trust. Hanging on to the ball too long one series, giving up on a play too soon the next.
Combine that with a beat-up CU offensive line, and things start to get ugly. Lewis was sacked five times on Saturday.
Defenders have been beaten up, chased and pushed around Lewis so much over the past month that even ball security, one of the kid’s bread-and-butter traits at the start of the season, is fading. The Trojans turned two third-quarter Lewis turnovers — a Joshua Jackson interception and an I’ll-take-that-thank-you strip of the ball by Drake Jackson — into 10 points.
When your offense consistently struggles to produce more than two scoring drives per game, 10 points starts to feel more like 20.
It might be time to see if Carter, a 6-foot-3 freshman out of Tigard, Oregon, gives a stagnant passing attack a kick up the backside. Or at least gives opposing defenses, starting with Arizona (0-4, 0-1) on Oct. 16, something else to think about. Something else to prepare for.
“Sometimes, if you pull a guy, then what’s that going to do to his confidence?” Dorrell said of Lewis during his postgame news conference. “It’s a fine line with trying to get him through this experience.”
Everything feels as if it’s resting on a fine line with the Buffs right now. Dorrell’s had a rough month, at least where the games are concerned, and the footage circulating on Twitter of him pushing away a CBS 4 camera at Folsom Field immediately after Saturday’s loss isn’t going to win friends. Or public-relations points.
Not when you’ve lost your last two home games by an average mark of 34-7. Or when you’ve been outscored by FBS opponents this season by a count of 112-34. Or when you let Trojans wideout Drake London (130 receiving yards) and USC quarterback Kedon Slovis (276 passing yards, three passing touchdowns) look like the second comings of Calvin “Megatron” Johnson and Matt Stafford in your backyard.
USC is now 15-0 all-time against CU. Saturday’s result was the largest margin of victory for the Men of Troy against the Buffs since October 2014, when USC rolled to a 56-28 win.
More salt in the wound: It was also the largest margin of victory for the Trojans in Boulder since 2011 (42-17, 25 points). And this against a USC roster that turned up in Boulder coming off a 45-27 loss at home to Oregon State.
The Buffs now limp into a bye week. It couldn’t come at a better time. On multiple levels.
“(I) definitely think that bye week timing is crucial right now,” said Buffs safety Isaiah Lewis, who had seven stops against the Trojans. “Because we’re not where we want to be. And our headspace isn’t where it needs to be. So we understand how important this bye week needs to be.”
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