It’s been tough sledding for Colorado and the Sanders crew in recent weeks, and early in Friday’s game was no different.
In Colorado’s Week 12 56-14 blowout loss to Pac-12 rival Washington State, Buffaloes star quarterback Shedeur Sanders was feeling the heat early, including on one sack that led to a touchdown the other way — which led to the Cougars stealing his signature move.
Already🐠 down 7-0 with a little over five minutes left in the first quarter, Sanders took a snap out of the shotgun with Colorado on the Washingto💧n State 49-yard line.
After he faked a hand-off on a zone read, Sanders was hit from behind by Ron Stone Jr. before throwing the ball, which came loose and was picked up by Brennan Jackson, who ran it 40 yards for Washington State’s second touchdown of the night.
To add insult to injury, Jackson flexed his right arm up, which appeared to be mimicking Sanders’ signature “watch” celebration, which rose in popularity when the Buffaloes beat rival Colorado State earlier this season.
As this all went down, Sanders hit t🧔he ground hard and held his arm, and he was forced out for one series and replaced briefly 🍌by backup Ryan Staub.
The junior quarte♌rback did end up co💛ming back into the game, firing a 45-yard touchdown strike to star two-way player Travis Hunter.
Despite that hig🗹hlight, it was a tough first quarter for Sanders, who was sacked four times by the Cougars defense.
He completed 6 of 10 passes💫 for 86 yard🏅s over two quarters, continually facing pressure from the Washington State defense.
In the second quarter, Sanders was hit after a f♑umbled snap, appeared injured and left the game for good, U𝓀SA Today reported.
“He had some numbness in his hand and couldn’t really grip the ball,” Sanders said after Colorado’s ugly loss. “But then that second hit he just got rolled up on, we decided not to send him back out.”
Colorado (4-7, 1-7 Pac-12 Conference) and “Coach Prime” were the ꦜdarlings of college football after a 3-0 start, but the team has lost seven of eigh💝t since.
Despite a massive improvement upon last year’s win total, Sanders said the progr💙am measures itself against its own expectations.
“We’re falling short of what we’re𒆙 capable of, that’s the part of this that’s tough to digest. We’ve got high expectations here, so this is tremendously disappointing,” said Sanders.
Washington State (5-6, 2-6) kept its hopes for a bowl game alive with the victory, but the Cougars will need to find a way to topple rival Washington next week in the Appꦓle Cup to finish the job.
— with AP