SALT LAKE CITY — The Buffs are completely different from where we left them against the Utah Utes a year ago. And first-year coach Deion Sanders promises even more changes are coming.
Especially with the CU coaching staff.
“A few (moves), a few,” Sanders said when asked after the Buffs’ 23-17 loss to Utah if his staff would be in flux for Year 2 of the Coach Prime Era.
Including offensive coordinator?
“Excuse me?” Sanders asked.
Including offensive coordinator.
“I don’t know. I don’t know about that one.”
Sanders shook up his offensive play-calling a month ago. Offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who joined the Buffs after serving as a head coach at Kent State, was relieved of his play-calling duties before CU’s home game with Oregon State this past Nov. 4.
While Lewis remained on the staff, the reins were handed to analyst and former Broncos coach and NFL head coach Pat Shurmur. That change couldn’t stop the Buffs from finishing the season on a six-game losing streak.
In the four games with Shurmur calling plays, the Buffs averaged 20.3 points per tilt. In the previous eight games, CU averaged 32.1 points per game.
Despite the loss, Saturday afternoon might have constituted Shurmur’s best work yet with the Buffs. Despite being a three-touchdown underdog on the road and with a freshman quarterback making his first start in Ryan Staub (195 passing yards), CU threw for 225 yards and two scores — without the services of record-setting QB Shedeur Sanders, who started the season’s first 11 games.
“It’s not a dream to be a No. 2 quarterback,” Sanders said of Staub. “I don’t think it’s a man’s dream to be No. 2 at nothing unless that’s the jersey number. So I’m not gonna forecast that on (him) … I think, after his performance today, he wants to play somewhere. And whether it’s here or somewhere else, he wants to play. He proved that he could play. Proud of him. I’m really proud of him.”
Shedeur Sanders, who was knocked out of last weekend’s loss at Washington State after taking four first-quarter sacks, is expected to return to Boulder next season for his senior campaign.
And both CU QBs will get a bonus from the likely return of two-way Buffs star Travis Hunter (107 receiving yards), who scored once and had two other potential scores overturned by Pac-12 officials’ replay reviews.
The final Rumble In The Rockies in the Pac-12 — both CU and Utah are moving to the Big 12 next summer — had more of an NFL preseason feel at the start, as both rivals started backup quarterbacks. Utah opened with senior Luke Bottari, a JUCO transfer making his first Utes start.
“I think he was trying to help himself get out of bed this week,” the elder Sanders joked when asked about his son helping Staub prepare. “I don’t know how much he contributed. I think he was just trying to take care of his body and get himself together.”
Staub’s first drive opened conservatively and with promise — two Sy’veon Wilkerson runs and a 9-yard completion for a first down — but ended at the Utah 35 when the Buffs freshman signal-caller fumbled away the rock on a 7-yard sack-fumble 5:47 into the tilt.
The hosts capitalized on the short field, and Bottari’s 1-yard TD run capped an eight-play, 58-yard drive that gave Utah a 6-0 lead before the extra point.
The Utes extended that lead to double-digits on ex-Buff kicker Cole Becker’s 34-yard field goal with 11:17 left until halftime. With CU trailing 10-0, Buffs wideout Jimmy Horn Jr. went to work.
Horn’s 41-yard kick return gave the Buffs great field position on their first possession of the second quarter. The transfer caught a 10-yard pass from Staub on first-and-10 at the Utah 40 to extend the drive. Horn then capped it with, of all things, a throw. The senior split wide to the left and took a lateral pass from Staub, finding tailback Dylan Edwards wide open in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown toss that finally got CU on the board.
And the underdogs kept swinging. A season of incomplete and up-and-down performances saw another peak, as the inspired Buffs put together one of their best, and most complimentary, quarters of football all season in the 15 minutes leading up to halftime.
Utah looked to extend its 10-7 cushion with a drive that shot all the way to the CU 5 midway through the second stanza. But the Buffs’ D allowed only one net yard over the next three plays, forcing a 22-yard Becker field goal and a 13-7 Utes lead.
When CU got the ball back, Staub and Hunter — mostly Hunter — went to work. With only 92 seconds on the clock the Buffs drove to the Utah 29 on seven plays. On third-and-7, Staub fired a rainbow up the right boundary into the end zone, where a diving Hunter appeared to secure the ball with both hands as he fell to the turf. A viral touchdown catch was overturned on the replay review, though, and CU kicked from the 29. Alejandro Mata’s 47-yard make was a new personal best in terms of distance with the Buffs, pulling CU to within 13-10 at the half.
The replay review was the second potential Hunter score of that drive taken off the board, as officials ruled the two-way star had stepped out of bounds on a short pass at midfield. Hunter still accounted for 43 of the Buffs’ 52 yards that drive.
Despite a 4-8 record, with the opening of the transfer portal looming on Dec. 4, Sanders sounded positive about the future.
“We’re getting ready to start cooking,” Coach Prime said. “(Once we) decide to go pick up their grocery and make sure we do it right. You know what we need. Everybody (knows) what we need. And you know, darn well what we need. So we’re gonna get it.”
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