Deion Sanders didn’t name the position Saturday night. He didn’t have to.
“We’ve got one glaring problem. You guys know darn well what it is,” the Colorado head coach said after the Buffaloes’ 29-7 home loss to No. 12 Texas Tech. “Letap stop the foolishness. We’ve got to play better at one specific position.”
Six minutes earlier, asked whether the problem was quarterback play or the offense as a whole, he called the loss a team effort. By the end of the night, the Buffs were 2-3, had thrown four interceptions in the second half and were headed into a bye week with no settled answer at quarterback.
“We’ve got three options there,” Sanders said. “Somebody just has to step up and take a hold of it and get it done.”
Wilson’s start
Isaac Wilson got the start Saturday. The Utah transfer, who replaced Julian Lewis at halftime at Baylor, opened his first game as Colorado’s starter with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.
Colorado didn’t score again.
Wilson finished 26-of-44 for 290 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions, including a pick-six in the fourth quarter. He also carried it 17 times. Colorado’s running backs combined for just 14 carries.
He didn’t hide from his mistakes.
“I need to stop trying to be more than I am,” Wilson said. “We’ve got dogs all over the field.”
He said his instincts got the better of him when plays broke down. “At heart, I’m a gunslinger,” Wilson said. He knew what the night meant for him, too.
“I had my chance tonight,” he said. “I got a week of preparation. We balled out all week.”
Lewis on the sideline
Lewis, who started Colorado’s first four games, did not play. He was not injured.
The second-year quarterback, one of three quarterbacks Colorado started last season, completed 61-of-95 passes for 733 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions through four games. He was 11-of-16 for 75 yards at Baylor before Wilson replaced him at halftime.
Sanders wouldn’t explain the move Saturday. When a reporter described Lewis as falling from first to third on the depth chart, Sanders rejected it. “No, thatap not how it was done,” he said. “I would love JuJu to come in here and tell you what happened.”
It was the second straight week Sanders deflected the question to Lewis. Asked after the Baylor game what was keeping things from clicking for his quarterback, he said, “You’ve got to (ask him) that. Thatap a good question for him.”
Lewis has not been made available to reporters since.
Sanders also made it clear he wouldn’t criticize Lewis publicly.
“I’m not going to badger the kid. I’m not going to say anything derogatory for the kid,” he said. “You’re trying to single out one kid, and you can’t do that, man.”
Lewis’s place in the room has been a question for weeks. Before the Baylor game, asked how a young quarterback grows into a leader, Sanders said of Lewis, “He’s not there yet.”
Open competition
The third option is freshman Kaneal Sweetwyne, who threw two passes Saturday. On Colorado’s first snap, he completed a 7-yard pass to Wilson on a trick play. On its last, with 7 seconds left, his fourth-down throw from the Tech 4 fell incomplete.
Sanders said the job is open, and has been all along.
“Itap always open competition,” he said. “Every day is an open competition.”
He was blunter about where the offense stands. “Am I comfortable with the offense? No,” Sanders said. He was careful not to put all of it on Wilson, either, calling him “a tough guy” who “worked his butt off.”
Colorado has two weeks before it hosts Utah, Wilson’s former team, on Oct. 17. with an 8:15 p.m. kick from Folsom Field (ESPN/ESPN2).
