Friday’s game against Houston represented a chance for Ryan Staub to cement himself as the starting quarterback in Colorado. Instead, he sent the Buffaloes back to the drawing board.
Despite a couple encouraging drives, Colorado’s Staub-led offense proved ineffective in a 36-20 loss, with the junior posting 204 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions on 19-of-35 passing.
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The first half could have been far worse, with Colorado entering halftime trailing by only two points, but the wheels completely fell off when the second half began. The Buffaloes posted 5 yards total in their first four drives, which included an interception and a turnover on downs.
It was nearly garbage time when Colorado reached the end zone on its fifth drive, which left it down 13 points with less than five minutes left.
It’s not like Staub didn’t have his moments, as he looked excellent in a two-minute drill to close the second quarter, with passes of 36 and 25 yards before running in a touchdown from 19 yards out. Colorado just needed a lot more of that on a night when its run game was overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage (60 rushing yards on 21 attempts by running backs, with 38 of those yards on one play).
While the Colorado offense was struggling, Houston quarterback Conner Weigman was posting 222 yards on 15-of-24 passing with 83 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Staub hadn’t even been confirmed as Friday’s starter until shortly before game time, as the program has vacillated between options in its post-Shedeur Sanders era. Staub was one of three candidates going into the season, and was sitting in third until about six days ago.
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The other two options were Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and five-star freshman Julian Lewis. Salter, who led the Flames to a 13-1 record in 2023, got the start in the season opener but couldn’t prevent a loss to Georgia Tech. Head coach Deion Sanders responded by using a QB rotation in the second game against Delaware, and that’s how Staub got his start Friday.
Previously the backup behind Shedeur for two seasons, Staub was the third passer to enter and led touchdown drives on three of his four series, easily the best result of the day.
That performance vaulted Staub to the top of the depth chart, but now we’ll have to wait and see if Sanders decides to pull another lever. Sanders has said he wants to avoid a “musical chairs” situation under center, but both of the other quarterbacks might not be happy with an extended benching. Salter came to Colorado hoping to increase his profile in his final college football season, while Lewis is a former top recruit with options should he become unhappy.
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Sanders didn’t sound like he had much of a plan after the game.
The coach really seemed to be going through it in general.
Colorado’s next chance to land on a permanent starting quarterback will be a return to home against Wyoming next Saturday.
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