Shedeur Sanders makes dazzling debut with the CU Buffs
Sep 2, 2023, 1:53 PM | Updated: 2:14 pm
It’s no secret that CU football has been down in the dumps of late. Since barely missing out on a spot in the national title game in 2001, the Buffaloes have only had five winning seasons and been to five bowl games.
There are a lot of reasons for this drought. Bad coaching hires. A lack of talent. Not enough support from alumni and the administration in Boulder.
But the No. 1 reason has been the lack of quality quarterbacks. Colorado has been trying to win with heady, try-hard guys. They haven’t had playmakers at the most-important position in football.
That has changed. The Buffs now have a star at quarterback.
Everyone was excited about Shedeur Sanders when he transferred from Jackson State to Colorado. But plenty of people wondered if his skills would translate to big-time college football. Many questioned if he got the job simply because he was the head coach’s son.
Considered those people silenced.
In his CU debut, Sanders completed 38 of 47 passes for 510 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions. He was composed and poised throughout the game, completing one big pass after another.
In the second half, Sanders led the Buffs back from three different deficits. None was bigger than the Buffs final scoring drive, when he put CU on top for good with a fourth-down completion to Dylan Edwards for a 46-yard touchdown.
It was the final completion of an amazing day. It was the crowning completion of an amazing performance.
He set a school record for passing yards. In his first game.
And it wasn’t hollow numbers. It added up to a shocking 45-42 defeat of TCU on the road, the 17th-ranked team in the country and a program that played in the national title game last season.
Sanders was as advertised. It’s why the Buffs are back.
He’s the best quarterback at CU since Kordell Stewart. Slash’s final season in Boulder was 1994.
Nearly three decades later, the Buffs have a big-time QB again. They’ve had some good ones. But they haven’t had any great ones.
They do now. Sanders is legit.
As a result, so are the Buffs.
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