If the idea is to stick with the one who brought you here, Karl Dorrell is doing this all wrong.
Because where the CU Buffs offense is right now — and has been since quarterback Brendon Lewis began taking snaps at the start of the 2021 season — is not any place the third-year head coach should want to be.
Karl Dorrell — D
As the old saying goes, if you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one.
The Grading the Week staff isn’t quite so sure that’s where Dorrell’s Buffs currently stand, if only because we haven’t seen enough of Week 1 backup J.T. Shrout to come to that conclusion. (Although, we’re certainly not ruling it out.)
What we are pretty certain of with the limited sample size available to us — 285 throws for Lewis vs. 23 for Shrout at CU — is that Shrout appears to be demonstrably better at throwing the football. And last we checked, that’s a pretty important attribute for an FBS starting quarterback. (Unless, of course, you’re running the veer, which, for the record, we’d fully support.)
This is not to pile on Lewis, who’s been a tough, gritty competitor for CU ever since he was first named the starter last season. The sophomore deserved none of the boos that rained down upon him and his teammates during last week’s 38-13 loss to TCU at a sloppy Folsom Field.
The problem is that many of the issues that torpedoed Lewis’ freshman season re-appeared in this year’s opener. The indecision. The happy feet in the pocket. The red zone flameouts.
And the rationalizations used to deflect blame away from Lewis last fall — a poorly coached offensive line, predictable play-calling from an inadequate offensive coordinator, inexperience at the FBS level — are no longer valid. The offensive line coach (Mitch Rodrigue) was fired a few months into last season. The offensive coordinator (Darrin Chiaverini) was banished from Boulder a few months after that. And we’re now at 14 FBS games for Lewis.
Week 1 was the time to see him take a step forward (if not two or three). Instead, we got more of the same that helped produce the nation’s No. 121st-ranked scoring offense last year — except, of course, when Shrout entered the game.
While there were shades of Bad Drew Lock from the Tennessee transfer (the almost-interception at the end of the first half), there were also moments of Good Drew Lock (the three completions that started the drive, including a 35-yard laser to Daniel Arias).
More than anything, there was conviction. Decisiveness. A slight hint of arrogance.
The Buffs need that. Desperately.
Lewis might be great at taking care of the football, with only three interceptions in his entire collegiate career, but the Buffs could use a little recklessness right about now. They’re 17 1/2-point underdogs at Air Force this weekend. What more do they have to lose?
Of course, the answer is obvious for Dorrell: His job.
Which is all the more reason for him to go with Shrout — the one QB who provided a spark against the Horned Frogs.
College football coaches are often frustratingly stubborn when it comes to big decisions, sticking with assistants or players well past when they should because they perceive it as giving in to the masses. We can only hope Dorrell has stopped caring about such petty optics after last week’s debacle.
Not just for our sake, but for his.
