Deion Sanders pulled his freshman quarterback at halftime, got the comeback he wanted, and lost anyway.
Baylor beat Colorado 23-13 on Sept. 26. The Buffaloes are 2-2 and host Texas Tech on Saturday as a 13.5-point underdog at home.
What Happened to JuJu Lewis
Julian “JuJu” Lewis went 11-of-16 for 75 yards in the first half with Colorado trailing 10-3. Sanders sat him.
Look at that line again. Lewis completed 69 percent of his passes and averaged 4.7 yards per attempt. That is not a quarterback playing badly, that is a quarterback being handed an offense with no vertical element and asked to survive.
Isaac Wilson came in and threw a touchdown that tied the game at 13-13. Then Baylor pulled away, which had nothing to do with either quarterback.
Sanders Owned the Decision
“It was a decision that I made, because I was trying to get us going,” Sanders said.
He also defended the player he benched: “Don’t give up on JuJu. That kid, he plays with tremendous effort and tremendous heart.”
Both things can be true. A coach can believe in a freshman and still decide he needs a spark at halftime of a game his team is losing. What Sanders cannot do is keep rotating quarterbacks and expect either of them to develop rhythm.
The Week Was Already Ugly
Sanders dismissed three players earlier that week, following a reported 41-7 loss to Northwestern. The score and date of that game have been reported inconsistently and should be treated as unconfirmed.
Lewis’s aunt publicly criticized Sanders over the benching, which turned a football decision into a family-adjacent news cycle. That is the Colorado experience in a sentence.
The Larger Numbers Are Brutal
Colorado is 12-25 against Power Four opponents under Sanders and has lost 11 of its last 13 games against that level of competition.
Sanders transformed the program’s relevance, revenue and recruiting profile. He has not produced a team that beats good opponents, and that was always the part that would eventually get measured.
The Buyout Changes Everything
Sanders’s buyout has been reported at roughly $32 million. Colorado is not paying that, which means he is not going anywhere regardless of how this season ends.
Worth stating plainly, because the hot-seat conversation around him is mostly theater. He has job security by contract, not by results.
Saturday Is a Real Test
Texas Tech comes to Boulder favored by nearly two touchdowns. Who starts at quarterback has not been announced, and the kickoff time has not been confirmed.
A 2-2 team that cannot decide on a quarterback, hosting a double-digit favorite, is how 2-2 becomes 2-3. Colorado needs Sanders to pick a passer and live with him.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.