Colorado’s Oct. 3 meeting with No. 11 Texas Tech is getting the spotlight treatment, and the Buffaloes are set for a 5:30 p.m. MT kickoff on FOX in what should be one of the season’s biggest nights at Folsom Field.
That timing matters for a lot of reasons. It gives Coach Prime’s team a primetime stage, and it also sets up the kind of atmosphere Colorado wants for its homecoming game. The Buffs have already announced a black-and-gold stripe-out to mark the university’s 150th anniversary, and a nighttime kickoff only adds to the edge of a packed house.
Texas Tech looks like a real problem for Colorado, too. The Red Raiders could still be unbeaten when they arrive in Boulder and, if things hold, they’ll be carrying the kind of Big 12 frontrunner buzz that makes this one feel like a measuring-stick game. If Colorado gets there at 3-1 after beating Baylor to open conference play, the Buffs would have plenty of momentum of their own.
The quarterback matchup adds another layer. Colorado redshirt freshman Julian Lewis has held the job through the first three games, and even after a rough Week 3 showing against Northwestern, that doesn’t appear likely to change.
Lewis has completed 102 of 173 passes in seven career appearances and five starts for 1,247 yards and 10 touchdowns against two interceptions, with both picks coming last week against Northwestern. This season, he has 658 passing yards, six touchdowns, two interceptions and a 63.3 completion percentage.
Texas Tech’s situation is more complicated. The Red Raiders have been rotating junior Will Hammond and fifth-year senior Thomas Castellanos, who was reinstated to college football midway through this season.
Hammond has been the primary starter, while Castellanos has come on in key run-downs. With Hammond still rehabbing a torn ACL, the two-quarterback setup has helped keep him healthy while also forcing defenses to sort through different looks.
For Colorado, this is the kind of game that can tell you a lot. If Lewis wins the quarterback battle and the Buffaloes handle Texas Tech, it would be a sharp rebound from the blowout loss in Week 3 and a strong springboard into the rest of the Big 12 slate.
And there’s no long wait after that. Colorado gets a bye week following the Texas Tech game, then turns its attention to its next major challenge: No.
15 Utah. If the Buffaloes can hold up under the lights against the Red Raiders, they’ll have two full weeks to get ready for that one with a lot more confidence.
In Other News...
Deion Sanders Has A Colorado Problem That Could Cost The Buffs
Colorados early-season sloppiness has become impossible to ignore, and it has shown up in the one area that can quietly wreck a game long before the final drive. Through three games, the Buffaloes have been the Big 12s most-penalized team, a frustrating start for a program that has spent plenty of time talking about discipline and details.
Deion Sanders has pointed to pressure as a factor, saying it can disrupt player discipline even when practice emphasis is there. The problem was especially costly in the loss to Northwestern, and with Big 12 play beginning, Colorado is already treating the penalty issue as something that needs close attention before it turns into a deeper season-long problem. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Fans Still Dont Know Who Deion Is Really Cutting
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The university, though, later said the situation is not fully settled and that potential roster changes have not been finalized. An updated roster is expected later in the week, leaving the Buffaloes in a holding pattern as the teams next chapter on personnel still has to be sorted out. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Gets Its First Real Big 12 Test At Home
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Colorado has won four straight and has looked steady enough to keep building momentum, but this is the first league home date that really asks where the Buffaloes stack up in the conference race. Head coach Danny Sanchez has already pointed to the challenge ahead, and with two ranked teams on the same field, the answer figures to come with plenty of pressure, pace and a test Colorado has been waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]