Pat Shurmur, CU Buffs without Shedeur Sanders painful vs. Georgia Tech

BOULDER — Is that Byron Leftwich warming up on the sideline?

Ralphie, old girl, you didn’t miss much. Take away Shedeur Sanders from a Pat Shurmur offense, and you’re left with a CU attack that, at times, looked like a pencil with no lead.

Friday night’s opener against Georgia Tech had a Baylor 2024 feel. Minus the Baylor ending. After two CU Hail Marys fell incomplete, the Yellow Jackets escaped with a 27-20 win inside a damp, deafening Folsom Field.

Deion Sanders’ Buffs, 0-1 for the first time in the Coach Prime Era, were outgained 463-305. They finished with 19 first downs after converting just five in the first half. Their 159 passing yards were CU’s fewest at Folsom since November 2022, just before you-know-who showed up.

“We don’t have time to gel,” Coach Prime said after the game. “We had a whole spring (and) summer to gel. We’ve got to go get it. We’ve got to go do it right now. We’re a few plays away from going to do it.”

They were, to be fair, and Brent Key’s Jackets might be the most physical team the Buffs draw the rest of the way.

Then again, the Big 12 is a league of fine margins, nail-biters and narrow escapes.. Coach Prime also walked off the field with two timeouts still burning in his pocket, which was, let’s just say, curious.

“I don’t want to go home with timeouts,” Sanders said. “That doesn’t do me (any) good, but you’ve got to be strategic as well. Burning timeouts just to burn them, just so you guys (in the media) won’t say something, that doesn’t make sense at all. But I think we got out of bounds a couple times, which preserved it for us.”

How many old game-management cracks were papered over a year ago by Shedeur, the best passer in school history, and Travis Hunter, the Buffs’ best-ever athlete? How long will it be before Shurmur is looking over his shoulder at Leftwich, CU’s newest assistant coach/quarterback guru, one with NFL play-calling on his resume? After all, Sanders supplanted Sean Lewis as offensive play-caller with Pencil Pat midway through 2023’s losing streak.

Prime Time likes what he’s seen of Leftwich and new Buffs QB1 Kaiden Salter, who’ll take some flak for who he isn’t. Down 20-13 with 9:23 left in the tilt, the transfer from Liberty stepped up in the pocket to elude pressure (which was good), spotted a wide-open Simeon Price near the front right pylon (also good) … and overthrew him by a yard-and-a-half. Third-and-6 with three minutes left … another open man missed a little too high.

Yet he can do this, too: As the pocket collapsed again, forcing another step-up, Salter spotted a lane, tucked the rock, and pinballed his way 7 yards into the end zone to pull the hosts to within an extra point.

As Buffs QB debuts go, No. 3’s was fine (17 for 28 passing, one passing score, one rushing score), if rough around the edges. Salter sometimes sprinted into danger as often as he ran away from it. Stretching out a play from east to west may well buy time against Conference USA defenses. The ones he’s going to see in the Big 12 close too quickly. Pick a lane and get north.

And to the social media peanut gallery calling for 5-star super freshman Julian Lewis, ask yourself this: How many times did Salter have to create an escape route all by himself?

Lewis can move, sure. Not like that. Even if “Ju Ju” has taken steps forward this month, it remains to be seen whether this offensive line’s ready to keep him upright for 60 minutes. Delaware awaits on Sept. 6. If we haven’t seen Lewis on the field by Week 3, fire up the flares.

At the moment, the Buffs have bigger problems. Unfortunately, CU’s run defense was less what was advertised and more what was feared. The elephant in the room still struggles to stop anybody between the hashmarks.

Yes, the Buffs tightened up late, and thank goodness. Yes, Tech is the Waffle House version of Iowa, a Southern sledgehammer. Yet Georgia Tech also converted on third-and-3-or-less five times in the first three quarters. They converted four of those on the ground, and the other one was a willing surrender on a spiked Haynes King pass to stop the clock.

If Tech wasn’t busy Nebrasking the heck outta that first half with three consecutive turnovers, the Buffs would’ve been hurting deep.

The Jackets were outrushing CU two minutes into the second quarter by a count of 112-33. Tech was getting 6.3 yards per pop on its first 18 carries.

And yet … the hosts somehow still led 7-3, spitting in the face of the football gods and the pop-up showers.

In hindsight, the Buffs couldn’t have scripted the first five minutes any better, could they? Tech’s Malik Rutherford got loose for a 13-yard gain on the first play of the evening. On the second, King butterfingered the ball to CU linebacker Martavious French at the Buffs’ 38. Five plays and three Micah Welch runs later, Salter found DeKalon Taylor in the end zone for an 8-yard score and a 6-0 CU lead.

Funny thing? Those two plays were pretty much a harbinger for the rest of the Jackets’ first half. The Ramblin’ Wreck alternated between gashing the Buffs on the ground or putting the ball on the turf.

Tech drove past midfield on five of its first six cracks on offense. Tries No. 2 and 3 ended on a fumble recovery by French at the Buffs’ 48 and a pick by D.J. McKinney at the CU 34, respectively. The Jackets turned their last three possessions into 13 points, with kicker Aidan Birr’s 32-yard field goal putting the visitors up 13-10 as the dying seconds of the second quarter expired.