Colorado lost to West Virginia 29-22, dropping the Buffaloes to a 3-7 record and eliminating them from bowl eligibility.
Coach Deion Sanders confirmed a change in offensive play-callers but stated the team’s struggles are not the fault of one coach.
Freshman Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis made his first collegiate start at quarterback, throwing for 299 yards and two touchdowns.
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders started a new quarterback at West Virginia on Saturday, one week after installing a new play-caller on offense against Arizona. But Colorado still lost to the Mountaineers, 29-22, dropping the Buffaloes to 3-7 this season and eliminating them from postseason bowl eligibility.
After the game, Sanders addressed a USA TODAY Sports report from Nov. 4 that said he changed his offensive play-caller after a 53-7 loss at Utah on Oct. 25. Instead of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur calling the plays, passing game coordinator Brett Bartolone called plays during a 52-17 loss against Arizona last week and then again on Saturday in Morgantown.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sanders said when asked about it. He then explained he has different coaches focused on the running game and the passing game. He also said it wasn’t Shurmur’s fault.
“Guys, it’s too easy to try to shoot at Pat or try to shoot at somebody,” Sanders said. “That’s too easy of a target. It’s not Pat’s fault. It’s not whatsoever. I told you guys to attack me, you know. It’s not, it’s not that. We collectively got to do a much better job, and let’s start with me. We got to do a much better job. You think I’m happy right now? You think I’m elated? You think this is what I want for these young men, for this university, for (athletic director) Rick (George)? You think this is what it’s about? It’s not. It’s not whatsoever. And we are so much better than what we’re doing right now.”
What happened in the game at West Virginia?
Sanders started his third different quarterback this season, this time giving freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis his first college start. But in a battle of freshman quarterbacks, West Virginia’s Scott Fox Jr. came out on top in front of 55,510 in Morgantown, West Virginia. He completed 17-of-28 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Lewis completed 22-of-35 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns.
Lewis led his team to a touchdown and two field goals on his final four drives, but it was too little, too late. Colorado kicker Alejandro Mata kicked a 38-yard field goal with 1:16 remaining to cut the lead to 29-22, but West Virginia recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt to salt away the game.
Colorado trailed the entire game after falling into a 9-0 hole in the first quarter.
“We’ve done everything you can think of to try to flip it,” Sanders said of his team’s current three-game losing streak.
Colorado’s new play-caller
TNT broadcast the game and also confirmed the USA TODAY Sports report about the change in play-callers, having spoken with Shurmur before the game.
Sanders has changed play-callers in the middle of a season previously, at Colorado in 2023 and at Jackson State in 2021. In 2023, he promoted Shurmur to play-caller and demoted offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who left after the season to become head coach at San Diego State.
The offense didn’t get any better after Shurmur started calling plays that year, in large part because quarterback Shedeur Sanders was beaten up and injured. They lost their four remaining games after the switch. But Shurmur did help lead the Buffs to a 9-4 season last year. On Saturday, Colorado scored its most points since a 24-17 win against Iowa State Oct. 11, when Shurmur was still calling plays.
“I felt amazing playing football again, realistically as a starter,” Lewis said.
One week ago, Lewis was Colorado’s third-string quarterback. Now he’s the Buffs’ quarterback of the future. Colorado is off next week before finishing the regular season against Arizona State and at Kansas State.
“We’re playing for pride now,” Colorado safety Tawfiq Byard said.
Sanders is 16-19 in three seasons at Colorado.
“I don’t think we played a team that’s athletically and physically better than us,” Sanders said. “I really don’t. I’ll stand on that.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
(This story was updated to add a photo gallery.)