Deion Sanders had to bench his starting QB for the second consecutive year.
Julian Lewis was pulled at halftime of Colorado’s Big 12 opener on Saturday and replaced by Utah transfer Isaac Wilson. The 19-year-old Julian Lewis ended the first half completing just 11 of 16 pass attempts for 75 yards.
Coach Prime explained the decision to turn to Wilson postgame.
“It’s not oftentimes what you guys may see on the field that determine things,” Deion Sanders said. “We’re on the headset and it’s a lot of things you guys don’t know, a lot of things that you’re not privy to, we don’t want you to be privy to.
“But it was a decision that that we made. I’ll take the blame for that. Not the blame, I’ll take the responsibility. It’s a decision that I made because I was trying to get us going. We gotta get going, we gotta score some points.”
Julian Lewis has been inconsistent all season aside from Week 2 vs. Weber State. A game-winning drive took away the attention from a three-quarter struggle in Week 1 but there was no ignoring his Week 3 performance vs. Northwestern. The loss in Evanston carried into the Big 12 opener for Lewis and he has now led the Buffs to just 24 points in 10 quarters against Power 4 opponents this season.
Isaac Wilson provided a bit of a spark in relief of Lewis, throwing for 129 yards and a TD, but a backup QB is simply a band-aid and not a real solution.
“Isaac came in and was a little shaky, nervous, then he calmed down a little bit, got us down the field, did his job,” Deion Sanders said. “This is all we want. And one thing I told him is ‘you don’t have to be the man. Just get the ball to the men and we’re good.’
“That’s the one thing that we need to understand from that position. You don’t have to be the guy. Just get the ball, distribute to the guys and we’re fine. Because we got some guys. I think you saw it today. We got some guys.”
Colorado returns to Boulder next week and welcomes Texas Tech to Folsom Field. It’ll be an interesting few days to see who Deion Sanders starts at QB in front of the home crowd.
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