FORT COLLINS — Billy Farris is expected to start at quarterback next week for Colorado State at Utah, but that was little consolation for him after being pulled in the third quarter Saturday against Texas Christian.
“I was a little surprised,” Farris said. “But that’s kind of how (coach Steve Fairchild) does things. He’s done it in practice before when things weren’t going right. And now he did it in the game.”
Said Fairchild: “That’s just the way things are going to be around here at quarterback. There’s no hard feelings. . . . But you’re going to play or come out of practice, or you’re going to play or come out of a game.”
Farris was replaced by freshman Klay Kubiak with 6:08 left in the third quarter. To that point, Farris had a lackluster showing, completing just 5-of-11 passes for 67 yards. He was sacked once. To be fair, Farris had a number of receivers drop passes that not only would have changed the view of his performance but maybe even won the game.
But as it stood, Kubiak entered the game. And the Horned Frogs teed off on him immediately. Kubiak was sacked five times, fumbled twice and was intercepted once.
“We were mixing up the man blitz and the zone blitz, and he was having a hard time finding the guy that he wanted,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said.
Kubiak, who finished 12-of-24 for 121 yards, disagreed.
“I felt like I panicked on a couple of the plays,” he said. “But from a mental, play-calling standpoint, I knew what I was doing every play.”
Asked if he expected anything different in terms of playing time going into this week, Farris said, “No, I don’t. I can’t let any of what (Fairchild) does affect me. Because if I do, I’m just hurting myself.”
Kubiak said he is not concerned about playing time.
“I don’t worry about that,” Kubiak said. “I’m just going to go out there and keep trying to push Billy and keep trying to get better myself. We’ll see what happens.”
Footnotes.
Safety Klint Kubiak (ankle) missed Saturday’s game but said he hopes to play against Utah. . . . Saturday’s official attendance was 27,130. . . . CSU safety Mike Pagnotta had another good game with eight tackles, a sack and an interception.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
