No structural changes after Minnesota loss but more Drew Carter on the way

BOULDER — After Colorado’s 30-0 blowout loss to Minnesota on Saturday, head coach Karl Dorrell told reporters that he had to “reevaluate everything” and that the offense has to “start all over.”

Well, Dorrell made his evaluations and explained them to reporters on Monday during his weekly press conference.

First off, nobody is losing their job.

While fans have called for firings, those are not on the way yet, though there’s no doubt that a couple of coaches are on the hot seat, with offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini leading the way.

Chiaverini will also continue to call the offensive plays, as he has since the start of the 2020 season and also in 2018.

“No, no changes yet,” Dorrell said when asked about staff changes. “We’re going to kind of work through all the dynamics of everything we’re doing. I’m going to show my face in the offensive room a little bit more now. I’m going to try to help the process and, again, I’m just trying to be a helping hand to how that whole situation works.”

Since Dorrell took over the staff in early 2020 with Chiaverini as his coordinator, Chiaverini has had control over the offense. The phrase “show my face” more is vague, but it’s safe to say that we’ll see more of Dorrell’s fingerprints on what is going on moving forward. Whether that means he’s taking 25%, 50% or 75% control of the weekly game planning is unknown.

“I’m just overseeing it, making sure it makes sense,” Dorrell said. “I’ve grown in and been in a number of systems and in my career. I’ve seen a lot of football. I have a feel of what I think our team can be better at.”

Unless Dorrell was taking play-calling powers away from Chiaverini, he probably was going to say something generic like the above. There’s no reason to publicly blast somebody who’s still on his staff.

The other big potential change was at quarterback.

Through three games, Brendon Lewis has not proven to be a competent Power 5 quarterback. The problem is that, at least since JT Shrout went down for the year with a knee injury, the Buffaloes don’t have a good option to try.

But, according to Dorrell, the Buffs will try out true freshman Drew Carter.

“We’re going to continue to bring his reps along,” Dorrell said. “He did show some glimpses of some positive things.”

On Saturday, Dorrell hinted that it could be a similar situation to last year when Tyler Lytle came in for a couple of series while Sam Noyer was the starter. In this scenario, the idea is that Carter could provide a spark if things aren’t going well for the offense under Lewis.

“Drew, when he came in, he showed a little bit of a spark, and we’re going to continue to bring that process forward,” Dorrell said.

While the changes weren’t as drastic as fans may have hoped, there’s still nine weeks left in the season. If the offense can’t step up, moe could be on the way.