As the 4-4 Colorado Buffaloes prepare to face the No. 16 Oregon State Beavers at scenic Folsom Field amidst the pristine Rocky Mountains. They’ll be doing so with a new offensive play-caller after Deion Sanders has stripped offensive coordinator Sean Lewis of those duties in favor of longtime NFL coach Pat Shurmur.
Last week’s loss to the UCLA Bruins saw star quarterback Shedeur Sanders battered and bruised to the point he had a pain-relieving injection administered at halftime. Sanders was also given a couple days off to begin the week in an effort to help him heal. As a result of that and weeks of stagnant play, Sanders has made the switch to Shurmur the former head coach of the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns.
Lewis The Scapegoat For Offensive Struggles!?
After getting off to a blistering start offensively to begin the season, the Buffaloes have come back to the earth. Bad line play, lack of a running game, and an inability to protect the quarterback are just some of the issues the Buffaloes have offensively. Following last week’s 28-16 loss to the Bruins, who boast the best defense in the Pac-12 with quite a few prospects who’ll be playing on Sundays, a perturbed Sanders said, “Overall, we just don’t have the fight and the passion to do what we want to do. The line has to improve.”
“We have to have enough depth to be able to accomplish the goals that we set out to accomplish,” he added.
Sanders pretty much called out his linemen in his postgame interview, then he had a meeting with them during the week to clear the air, so to speak.
Contrasting Offensive Styles For Lewis And Shurmur
With the aforementioned Lewis, who left a head coach job at Kent State to take the offensive coordinator job at Colorado and run the uptempo no-huddle offense he ran at Kent State, the shoddy offensive line is being exposed even more. While there have been plenty of explosive plays, it’s also exposing Shedeur to more hits.
Coach Prime must believe that Shurmur’s style, which is more of the old-school style with huddles and play calls under center, will help alleviate these hellacious pass rushes the conference has. There will be more intermediate passing, and more of an emphasis to run the football from a tight formation and not the spread.
The move is a bold one, and if it fails it will be on Sanders, who’s been criticized heavily for changing play-callers this late in the season.
