Six Things I Think We Learned About CU After Baylor

Baylor 23, Colorado 13.

Here’s the part that will stick with me. Colorado out-gained Baylor 363 to 337. The defense held a ranked-adjacent Big 12 offense under 340 yards. Damon Greaves averaged 49.5 yards a punt. Yet the Buffs lost by 10 in a game they were never really in charge of.

Northwestern was an embarrassment. This was Colorado playing roughly as well as Colorado can play, and losing anyway.

Deion Sanders, afterward: “We’re better than this. It seems as though we’re better than our opponents, but the score does not dictate that. That’s the fascinating thing about it. We’ve got to find out why.”

Coach, I’m going to tell you why. Let’s dive in.

1. College football devalued the one thing that Deion Sanders was elite at, and CU can’t adjust

When Colorado hired Sanders, recruiting still ran on magnetism. You won a kid by getting in his “living room” (that’s a figure of speech as we all know Deion Sanders doesn’t do in-home visits which still pisses me off), by being somebody the recruit’s parents had a poster of, by selling a vision. Sanders could arguably be the best in America at that. Add the brand, the cameras, and the exposure, and CU had a genuine competitive edge over almost every program in America.

Then the sport changed underneath Deion Sanders and CU.

Recruiting is no longer won in the “living room.” It’s won in a wire transfer. The magnetism still gets you the visit but ultimately the check decides the commitment. And that is the one arms race Deion Sanders cannot personally win, because it isn’t about him at all. It’s about how many people in your state will write a seven-figure check.

Texas Tech walks into Folsom on Saturday as an example. The Matador Club raised $63.3 million since 2022 from about 3,500 donors, with multiple million-dollar checks, and the Red Raiders are projected to spend up to $55 million on athletes this year. The Athletic estimates that the SEC averages $33-38 million a roster, the Big Ten $27-31 million, the ACC $21-25 million, and the Big 12 $18-22 million. Colorado is at $18-21 million, ninth in the lowest-spending Power Four conference. Stack the leagues up and something like 40 to 50 programs are spending more on players than Colorado is.

So the edge that Deion Sanders brings to CU’s football program is largely gone. And now his success depends on his coaching ability.

That’s where this gets uncomfortable, because we now have four games of evidence and it all points the same direction. Colorado is the most penalized team in the Big 12. Colorado is continually losing the special teams battle, and is the only team in the Big 12 without a special teams coordinator. Colorado has been out-schemed on third down, in the return game, and on the wheel routes Sanders admitted his staff was calling out on the headset and still could not coach the players to stop.

There’s a retention issue that contributes to these coaching issues as well. Of the 52 transfers Colorado signed in 2023, 36 were gone within a year. Of the 43 signed in 2024, 28 were gone. Hit rates around 30 percent. When you rebuild half a roster every winter out of the portal and two-thirds of it leaves, you never accumulate continuity. Continuinity is more important than ever for a program that finds it difficult to compete financially for player talent.

A magnetic CEO coach was a real advantage in 2023. Givne the changes in college football and the reality of coaching in Boulder, CU now need an Xs and Os staff. Colorado has a mediocre roster by Power Four standards and, on the evidence, mediocre coaching on top of it.

That, readers, is the actual state of the program.

2. Julian Lewis is playing scared

I have tried to be patient with Juju. He’s 19. He was thrown into a bad situation. But Saturday put a number on the thing everybody’s eyes have been telling them.

Julian Lewis’s average depth of target against Baylor was 2.8 yards.

Not 2.8 yards per completion. The average distance downfield at which the ball left his hand, on every throw, was under three yards. Isaac Wilson came in at halftime and his average depth of target was 11.0.

Baylor game	Julian Lewis	Isaac Wilson
Dropbacks	20	28
Completions / attempts	11 of 16	12 of 26
Yards	75	156
Yards per attempt	4.7	6.0
Average depth of target	2.8	11.0
Pressures faced	6	9
Sacks taken	3	1
Pressure-to-sack rate	50.0%	11.1%
Time to throw	2.58 sec	2.70 sec
PFF passing grade	61.5	68.0

Juju Lewis just doesn’t throw the ball down the field. We’ve been hammering him on his yards per attempt in our prior “5 Things” posts, and this is further evidence that he’s unwilling to push the ball downfield. You can’t win if you don’t take shots.

Another key QB stat is the pressure-to-sack rate. Lewis was pressured six times and went down three times. Half of the pressure he faced turned into a sack. Wilson was pressured nine times and went down once.

And it isn’t because Lewis was holding the ball. His time to throw was 2.58 seconds, faster than Wilson’s. He was getting rid of it quickly, throwing it three yards downfield, and still taking sacks.

Juju Lewis’ adjusted completion percentage Saturday was 75.0. That sounds fine until you remember he was throwing it 2.8 yards downfield. There’s no downfield threat with Lewis at QB. He produced zero big-time throws, by PFF’s count.

Ultiamtely, I want players that play 100 miles per hour. If you’re going to make a mistake, make the mistake going all-out. Juju Lewis is playing 15 miles per hour and is afraid to move the ball downfield, and that doesn’t work at QB.

3. The Go-Go offense doesn’t work with the quarterbacks Colorado has on its roster (and more on tight end deficiencies)

We wrote in December about what the Go-Go offense looks like with a non-running quarterback. Four games in, the answer appears to be: not great.

Brennan Marion’s system is built on the quarterback being a live run threat. Having a mobile QB stresses a defense horizontally, makes the perimeter run game work, and forces the second level to hesitate long enough for play action to matter.

Colorado’s quarterbacks on Saturday: nine carries, minus-28 yards. Lewis four for minus-17, Wilson five for minus-11. While sacks are in those numbers, it’s still clear there is zero rushing threat from CU’s quarterbacks.

Which brings up the part that should worry you more than the sack total. Look at who actually lost their pass-protection reps:

Player	Pass-block snaps	Pressures allowed	PFF pass block
Xavier Payne, RT	21	0	85.4
Sean Kinney, C	49	0	85.1
Jayvon McFadden, RG	28	0	84.5
Bo Hughley, LT	28	2	76.3
Leon Bell, RT	38	2	62.8
Chauncey Gooden, RG	49	4 (1 sack)	57.7
DeKalon Taylor, RB	5	2 sacks	38.7
Micah Welch, RB	2	0	5.5

That’s a great job from the offensive line (with a small asterisk for Chauncey Gooden). Three offensive linemen did not allow a single pressure. Kudos to Xavier Payne, Sean Kinney and Jayvon McFadden. Yet Colorado still gave up five sacks. Two of them were allowed by a running back on five pass-protection snaps (the bottom line is that CU’s coaches can’t play DeKalon Taylor on passing downs because he just can’t protect), and three of the sacks were the quarterback’s own doing.

CU’s issue is an immobile quarterbacks that won’t pull the trigger, and backs who can’t protect.

The offensive line is protecting well enough for CU to win.

One more thing on the offense — CU’s tight end play is still abysmal. Fisher Clements played 77 snaps with a 33.4 pass-block grade. In fact, Clements, Brady Kopetz and Zach Atkins combined for 141 snaps, and generated three targets, two catches and seven yards. Last week it was 102 snaps and one catch. Colorado keeps putting tight ends on the field that are non-threats and that can’t block while fans are left asking why the hell Quanell Farrakhan Jr. or Quentin Gibson or Ernest Campbell aren’t playing more.

What are we doing here, coaches?

4. Attention Deion Sanders: special teams decided this game

Damon Greaves punted eight times for 396 yards, a 49.5 average, which is excellent. However, Baylor’s Jayden McGowan returned seven punts for 130 yards. After returns, Colorado netted 266 yards on those eight punts. That’s 33.3 net yards per punt. Baylor punted seven times for 353 yards and Colorado returned one for zero, so Baylor netted 50.4.

That is a 17-yard field-position swing on every single punt, in a game decided by 10 points. Add Cadel Ayala putting two kickoffs out of bounds, handing Baylor the ball at its own 35 twice, and the hidden yardage is worth more than any drive either offense put together in the game.

Now here is Deion Sanders, asked about the punt returns afterward:

“I mean, they returned some good balls, I don’t think he really did any damage to us on the returns.” — Deion Sanders

In the same press conference, Deion Sanders said he has to find out why it keeps losing.

FFS. The answer is staring him in the face.

By the way, Colorado is still the only team in the Big 12 without a special teams coordinator. Every other program in this league pays somebody whose job it is to own exactly this. Colorado assigns it by committee, which in practice means nobody has to answer for a 17-yard net punting gap.

This is now four games of evidence that special teams are a massive issue for this team. Frankly it’s coaching malpractice.

5. CU is the most penalized team in the Big 12, and that is a coaching statistic

Entering Week 4, Colorado averaged 9.3 penalties and 82.3 yards per game — worst in the Big 12 and 129th nationally. Then the Buffs went out and committed nine more for 82 against Baylor.

Four-game totals: 37 penalties, 329 yards.

Cree Thomas alone was flagged four times Saturday, including two pass interferences and a hold. Bo Hughley’s hold erased a 32-yard JaQuail Smith run early in the third quarter and that drive ended in a punt.

Penalties are the purest coaching statistic there is. Kansas State is averaging roughly a third of Colorado’s penalty count.

You cannot be a mediocre-spending program and also the least disciplined team in your league.

6. The defense is good enough to win Big 12 games, and it’s being wasted

The genuinely encouraging part of Saturday: Lamont Lester Jr. was back to being the player from the opener.

Lamont Lester Jr. vs. Baylor	Grade
PFF defense	93.3
PFF pass rush	92.4
Pass-rush grade, true pass sets	91.5
Pass-rush win rate, true pass sets	50.0%
Total pressures	7
Sacks	0

A 50 percent win rate on true pass sets is a high NFL draft pick day. However, he generated seven pressures but finished with zero sacks. An inability to finish is quickly becoming the story of the entire defense.

Colorado pressured DJ Lagway 16 times and sacked him once. For the season: 64 pressures, but only 8 sacks. A 12.5 percent conversion rate. The rush is real but it does not finish, and the reason is because CU isn’t getting enough interior push and the quarterback steps up into space nobody is occupying.

Elsewhere the defense did its job. Randon Fontenette was not targeted once in 43 coverage snaps. Liona Lefau graded 80.9 against the run on 67 snaps. Boo Carter took 10 targets, and held up reasonably at 71 yards allowed.

The exception, again, is Cree Thomas: 43.7 coverage grade, five catches allowed on nine targets for 70 yards, and the four penalties. At some point playing Thomas 79 of 79 snaps stops makes you shake your head.

But it’s important to note that Colorado held a Big 12 team to 337 yards and 23 points, and lost, because the offense scored 13 and the punt team gave back a field’s worth of yardage.

So what do you do at quarterback?

Start Isaac Wilson against Texas Tech. And understand that he isn’t a solution.

Wilson was 12 of 26 for 156 yards with a 46.2 percent completion rate. That’s bad. His adjusted completion percentage was 61.9, which is worse than Lewis’s.

But he threw it 11 yards downfield instead of 2.8 yards downfield, he took one sack on nine pressures instead of three on six, and Colorado scored 10 straight points to tie the game with him in there. Lewis just doesn’t threaten the defense vertically. CU needs to play the quarterback who is at least willing to try to push the ball downfield.

Sanders said he’d reassess. He also said, “Don’t give up on JuJu,” and he’s right that a 19-year-old benched in his fifth start isn’t finished. Colorado’s problem is that neither of these players is good enough right now, and the third option, Kaneal Sweetwyne, is a true freshman.

That’s what a mediocre roster looks like.

Where this leaves us

Colorado is 2-2 with No. 12 Texas Tech coming to Folsom for homecoming. The Red Raiders are 4-0.

The defense can hold up in this league. The receivers, down to their third and fourth options, went for 244 yards on Saturday. Those are positive things.

Two more things got worse on Saturday. DeAndre Moore Jr. left with what Sanders believes was a head injury, which thins a receiver room already without Danny Scudero. And Tyler Martinez, who had the team’s best coverage grade on Saturday before he went down, was on crutches in a walking boot. Sanders’ first thought was whether Martinez could get a medical year back, which tells you what he expects.

The bottom line, though, is that the penalties, special teams issues, and situational football issues are CU’s biggest issues.

And that’s on the head coach.

---

How to Watch CU Athletics This Week, Sponsored by SportsDeck

Football: No. 12 Texas Tech at Colorado

Saturday, 5:30 p.m. Mountain on FOX

Homecoming at Folsom, and the biggest home game of the season so far. FOX is on every cable and satellite package. Cord-cutters: YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo and DirecTV Stream all carry FOX, and FOX One streams it on its own. Sling Blue carries FOX in some markets but not all, so check before Saturday. Radio is KOA 850 AM and 94.1 FM.

Soccer: Colorado at UCF

Friday, 5 p.m. MT on ESPN+

The Buffs head to Orlando after dropping a 3-1 decision at Texas Tech. ESPN+ is the streaming service, not the ESPN channel.

Volleyball: at TCU, then at Baylor

Friday, 5 p.m. MT at TCU — ESPN+
Sunday, 1 p.m. MT at Baylor — ESPN+

Colorado survived Arizona in five sets on Sunday and now plays two Big 12 road matches in three days. Both are on ESPN+.

Also this week

• Men’s golf: Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, in Boulder, Tuesday and Wednesday
• Women’s golf: Ron Moore Intercollegiate, Highlands Ranch, Friday through Sunday
• Tennis: Battle of the Bay Classic, San Francisco, Thursday through Sunday
• Lacrosse: alumni game, Kittredge Field, Friday at 6 p.m.

None are televised. Live stats are on CUBuffs.com, and the men’s golf event is in Boulder if you want to watch something in person for free.

---

This section is sponsored by SportsDeck, an app I built after getting tired of finding out my team had played yesterday, on a channel I already had.

Here’s how it works:

You tell it which teams you follow (there are 3,220 teams on SportsDeck across 47 sports leagues) and which streaming and TV services you already pay for. SportsDeck tells you every game your teams play, what time it starts, what channel or app it’s on, and whether you can actually watch it with what you’ve got. It can even show you whether there’s a cheaper way to watch more of your teams’ games.

Then it does the part I’m proudest of: it brings together your teams’ news, podcasts, YouTube videos, and trusted local coverage in one place—like the old sports page you miss, rebuilt for today’s world. SportsDeck has 454 of these pages, and I built and curate the whole operation.

You can also get a morning email with your games, viewing information, and biggest team stories before your coffee. There are game alerts and an iPhone widget, too.

Your first month of Pro is free. Get the iPhone app or start at mysportsdeck.com.

---

OTITWI (Other Things I Thought Were Interesting)

–No, I didn’t watch this entire video with my jaw on the floor. I mean, who watches dudes compete in an insane trampoline-off? Not me. You shouldn’t watch, either. Nope. https://www.youtube.com/watch?is=RPgtBExWXTSjvAhW&v=R4RC8I270NI&feature=youtu.be

–“He was one of the world’s most wanted men. So he bought himself an African country.” ($) https://www.economist.com/interactive/1843/2026/09/18/cocaine-trafficking-sierra-leone

–NY Times’ list of the 100 greatest TV shows of the 21st century. I’m currently watching Breaking Bad (I’m in Season 4) and I get it now. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/arts/television/best-tv-shows-21st-century.html?eafs_enabled=false

–Researches unearth a tablet with the world’s oldest peace treaty. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/researchers-unearth-a-clay-tablet-inscribed-with-the-worlds-oldest-peace-treaty/

–I’m finishing Hyperion, the science fiction classic by my former neighbor, Dan Simmons. It’s fantastic. Here’s a booktok list of other fantastic science fiction books. https://www.youtube.com/watch?is=1F7bQYrq7vFne3mO&v=OEJOfC-zH2E&feature=youtu.be

---

More BuffsBlog You Might Have Missed

• Five Things I Think We Learned About CU After Northwestern: the wheel routes, the snap counts and the one number that decides Colorado’s season.
• Colorado Spends $18 Million. Texas Tech Spends $40 Million. Can Congress Fix College Sports?: Chris Gaddis on the Protect College Sports Act and the money gap.
• Relevant But Broken: A Nuanced Look at the State of CU Football: roster construction, portal hit rates, and why CU’s money isn’t the whole problem.