While he is not solely responsible for Colorado's offensive woes of late, freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis has certainly not performed in a manner that absolves him from the team's inability to score points or even move the ball efficiently.
Through three games as CU's starter, Lewis has gone 31-of-56 (55%) through the air with 246 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
His offensive line has been far from perfect and the same could be said of CU's playcalling offensively, however, Lewis has shown considerably more growing pains than was evident in his first collegiate action last December in the Valero Alamo Bowl loss to Texas.
With Colorado's offense having managed a pitiful 90 yards on 66 plays (17 drives) dating back to the start of the second half last week against Texas A&M, for Karl Dorrell, things are looking precarious as he tries to right the ship before CU (1-2) begins Pac-12 Conference play on the road at Arizona State next Saturday.
In terms of the Buffs' status, things are at DEFCON Level 2.
That means Dorrell and his coaches will likely be sitting down with Lewis sometime this week to talk specifics about his performances as starting quarterback to date as well as strategizing over how to start producing better drives in the immediate future.
“He’s having a hard time," Dorrell said of Lewis. "I’ve got to watch (film) and see it, talk to him, see what he's seeing, (have him) tell me what he’s seeing and all that stuff, but he’s struggling out there. We’ve got to be better in coaching him, getting him prepared — we have to do a number of things better. We've just got to start all over and figure out what we can do well. It’s really at that point now.”
Lewis was sacked four times in CU's 30-0 blowout loss to Minnesota, all of them coming on either third or fourth down.
Colorado's run game was nonexistent, evidenced by the -19 yards total that the likes of Lewis, Jarek Broussard, Alex Fontenot, Ashaad Clayton, Deion Smith and Drew Carter accounted for.
The Buffs' ability to pass the ball — which hasn't looked good all year — was only slightly less ineffective; Colorado passed for 82 yards between Lewis and Carter, the latter of whom was inserted into the game in the fourth quarter.
Interestingly enough, it was Carter who managed to orchestrate the most successful offensive drive for CU over the last six quarters of play.
With 5:09 to play, Colorado, with Carter behind center, took over at its own 25-yard line. Carter managed completions of nine and 12 yards to fellow freshmen wide receivers Ty Robinson and Chase Penry, which very well have represented the most competent few plays the Buffaloes ran on offense all day.
The possession ultimately stalled out at Minnesota's 46-yard line, but the nine-play, 29-yard drive was CU's best in over 90 minutes of game time dating back to last week's loss to the Aggies.
Carter finished the day having gone 4-of-8 passing with 27 yards. Interestingly (perhaps embarrassingly) enough, Carter was Colorado's leading rusher of the day, going for nine yards on two carries.
Dorrell indicated after Saturday's loss that no stone would remained unturned in terms of exploring options that could rejuvenate Colorado's offense.
That includes Carter potentially seeing more action/series as the year goes on.
"He did do some positive things out there but we’re young at (quarterback)," Dorrell said. "It’s unfortunate for us, but we’re still going to turn over every stone and figure out what to do. It might mean, does he get a chance to get some series in games now because he might be able to create a spark? We may have to do that."
"We were doing a little bit of that last year with Tyler Lytle and Sam Noyer. We may just have to start bringing him along, along with having Brendon be the guy. There’s a lot of scenarios like that we’re going to need to discuss and iron out.”
It'll be a long 48 hours before Dorrell's next weekly press conference, set to kick off early in the afternoon on Monday.
At that time, Dorrell might reveal some significant changes being made when it comes to Colorado's offense.
While all that remains to be seen, Dorrell and the 2021 Buffaloes appear to be at something of a crossroads with respect to how the rest of their season will pan out.
"I think right now there is a sense of urgency that needs to be dine as a coaching staff and the players about really looking forward and looking at ourselves in the mirror and saying, 'We need to get these things done right for us to be the caliber of team that we want to be,'" Dorrell said.
......
Ultimately, giving Carter some consideration to take snaps and series is a decision made out of necessity. It simply has to be done, that and everything thinkable that'll give this offense a spark. Gonna be a long day(s) in the film lab for Dorrell as he navigates how to proceed ahead of the ASYU game. New playcaller? Split time between his young quarterbacks? All is possible at this point. Nothing's off the table.
Through three games as CU's starter, Lewis has gone 31-of-56 (55%) through the air with 246 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
His offensive line has been far from perfect and the same could be said of CU's playcalling offensively, however, Lewis has shown considerably more growing pains than was evident in his first collegiate action last December in the Valero Alamo Bowl loss to Texas.
With Colorado's offense having managed a pitiful 90 yards on 66 plays (17 drives) dating back to the start of the second half last week against Texas A&M, for Karl Dorrell, things are looking precarious as he tries to right the ship before CU (1-2) begins Pac-12 Conference play on the road at Arizona State next Saturday.
In terms of the Buffs' status, things are at DEFCON Level 2.
That means Dorrell and his coaches will likely be sitting down with Lewis sometime this week to talk specifics about his performances as starting quarterback to date as well as strategizing over how to start producing better drives in the immediate future.
“He’s having a hard time," Dorrell said of Lewis. "I’ve got to watch (film) and see it, talk to him, see what he's seeing, (have him) tell me what he’s seeing and all that stuff, but he’s struggling out there. We’ve got to be better in coaching him, getting him prepared — we have to do a number of things better. We've just got to start all over and figure out what we can do well. It’s really at that point now.”
Lewis was sacked four times in CU's 30-0 blowout loss to Minnesota, all of them coming on either third or fourth down.
Colorado's run game was nonexistent, evidenced by the -19 yards total that the likes of Lewis, Jarek Broussard, Alex Fontenot, Ashaad Clayton, Deion Smith and Drew Carter accounted for.
The Buffs' ability to pass the ball — which hasn't looked good all year — was only slightly less ineffective; Colorado passed for 82 yards between Lewis and Carter, the latter of whom was inserted into the game in the fourth quarter.
Interestingly enough, it was Carter who managed to orchestrate the most successful offensive drive for CU over the last six quarters of play.
With 5:09 to play, Colorado, with Carter behind center, took over at its own 25-yard line. Carter managed completions of nine and 12 yards to fellow freshmen wide receivers Ty Robinson and Chase Penry, which very well have represented the most competent few plays the Buffaloes ran on offense all day.
The possession ultimately stalled out at Minnesota's 46-yard line, but the nine-play, 29-yard drive was CU's best in over 90 minutes of game time dating back to last week's loss to the Aggies.
Carter finished the day having gone 4-of-8 passing with 27 yards. Interestingly (perhaps embarrassingly) enough, Carter was Colorado's leading rusher of the day, going for nine yards on two carries.
Dorrell indicated after Saturday's loss that no stone would remained unturned in terms of exploring options that could rejuvenate Colorado's offense.
That includes Carter potentially seeing more action/series as the year goes on.
"He did do some positive things out there but we’re young at (quarterback)," Dorrell said. "It’s unfortunate for us, but we’re still going to turn over every stone and figure out what to do. It might mean, does he get a chance to get some series in games now because he might be able to create a spark? We may have to do that."
"We were doing a little bit of that last year with Tyler Lytle and Sam Noyer. We may just have to start bringing him along, along with having Brendon be the guy. There’s a lot of scenarios like that we’re going to need to discuss and iron out.”
It'll be a long 48 hours before Dorrell's next weekly press conference, set to kick off early in the afternoon on Monday.
At that time, Dorrell might reveal some significant changes being made when it comes to Colorado's offense.
While all that remains to be seen, Dorrell and the 2021 Buffaloes appear to be at something of a crossroads with respect to how the rest of their season will pan out.
"I think right now there is a sense of urgency that needs to be dine as a coaching staff and the players about really looking forward and looking at ourselves in the mirror and saying, 'We need to get these things done right for us to be the caliber of team that we want to be,'" Dorrell said.
......
Ultimately, giving Carter some consideration to take snaps and series is a decision made out of necessity. It simply has to be done, that and everything thinkable that'll give this offense a spark. Gonna be a long day(s) in the film lab for Dorrell as he navigates how to proceed ahead of the ASYU game. New playcaller? Split time between his young quarterbacks? All is possible at this point. Nothing's off the table.
