BOULDER — The starting quarterback for Colorado’s final two games of the season most likely will be a redshirt freshman who had completed 7-of-11 passes this season before starter Sefo Liufau went down Friday night with a broken left foot.
Cade Apsay once saved the life of a friend who was hit by a car, pulling him out of traffic before he got hit again. Now Apsay is tasked with giving the Buffs a chance in their last two games, at Washington State and at Utah.
In CU’s 27-24 loss to Southern California at Folsom Field on Friday, Apsay was 18-of-23 passing for 128 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover. He showed a lot of accuracy throwing the ball but was sacked five times, and sometimes they were his fault.
“He’s real accurate and he did some good things,” coach Mike MacIntyre said. “He should have gotten the ball out of his hands a couple times a little bit quicker … when it wasn’t right there, or thrown it away. He’ll learn that on film. You have to learn that by playing.”
CU center Alex Kelley was impressed by the way Apsay performed.
“He almost just beat USC, with our help,” Kelley said. “I love Sefo, and I hope he gets better, but I have all the confidence in the world in Cade.”
Running back Phillip Lindsay said USC started bringing more blitzes when Apsay went into the game, hoping to take advantage of his inexperience.
“Of course it’s going to be a little bit different because Cade is coming in and doesn’t have that much experience,” Lindsay said. “Once he got the hang of it, it started clicking again. It was tough at the beginning, losing Sefo with the momentum like that.”
Liufau went out on the last play of the first quarter with the Buffs leading 7-3. Liufau completed 6-of-8 passes for 94 yards but was hurt on a sack. His injury was initially reported to be a sprained foot.
“It was tough, because he was hot, he was on a roll, he had a great week of practice — I don’t think he missed a throw all week,” MacIntyre said. “He was getting back in rhythm. He was trying to go back in (the game) and I just looked in his eyes and said, ‘You can’t go back in.’
“They took him in (the locker room), and he had a Lisfranc (injury), he was trying to tape it up and I said, ‘No.’ He’s such a warrior and such a leader.”
Liufau, a junior, probably will have surgery this week. MacIntyre hopes to have him back in May.
Colorado led the heavily favored Trojans 17-6 at halftime, but USC scored 21 consecutive points during the second half.
“That’s definitely a heartbreaker for sure,” MacIntyre said. “The kids kept battling, kept coming back and just came up short again. But, wow, the last two years that team (USC) has shellacked us. We’ve caught up in a lot of areas, but that still hurts mightily for these young men.”
Friday marked the final home game for 15 seniors, including record-setting wide receiver Nelson Spruce, running back Christian Powell and defensive lineman Justin Solis. Those players were here before MacIntyre arrived in 2013.
“I’ve told them a lot of times, ‘I didn’t inherit you, you inherited me,’ ” MacIntyre said. “They’ve been great leaders and played hard, and I really appreciate them. They have helped us come a long way. We just have to find a way to get over the hump in more of these (close games).”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
