The wheels are falling off Colorado’s offense, and Deion Sanders is facing a major quarterback dilemma. After a frustrating 29-7 home loss to Texas Tech dropped the Buffaloes to 2-3, the biggest question in Boulder is who should be under center.

Julian Lewis, who opened the season as the starter, was benched in favor of Isaac Wilson. But after Wilson threw three second-half interceptions against the Red Raiders, fans and analysts are warning “Coach Prime” that mishandling his prized young quarterback could push him toward the transfer portal.

The tension surrounding the situation became clear during a post-game radio breakdown between Buffs announcers Mark Johnson and Andy Lindahl. Discussing the quarterback shuffle, Lindahl admitted he has concerns about how Colorado is handling Lewis in today’s NIL-driven era.

“That, I don’t know, Mark. You tell me,” Lindahl said about the quarterback drama. “I don’t know what the relationship with JuJu Lewis is at, but I don’t love burning a young kid just yet, and look, let’s be honest about it. Modern college football. I don’t know if I want to show him to the world in the NIL world.”

With a bye week ahead, Colorado has until October 17th to decide who takes the snaps against Utah. The coaching staff now faces a tough choice: return to Lewis, stay with Wilson, or give another young option, Kaneal Sweetwyne, a chance.

“Now what do you do from a quarterback standpoint? Do you go back to Julian Lewis? Do you bring Isaac Wilson back out? Do you look at Kaneal Sweetwyne, who’s an exciting young talent and actually runs relatively well? Might be the guy physically that fits best in the system, but now that’s going to be a huge topic of conversation.”

While many fans want an immediate change, Lindahl believes Sanders may need to give Wilson another opportunity. He argued that the freshman quarterback played well early before the game started slipping away.

“Not what you want to do. You don’t want to be debating this, especially when we’re going to be going into game five of the season now, game six of the season. It just was one game. He did do some good things. The mistakes started happening when he felt like, I think the game was getting away from him.”

Wilson finished the night 26-for-44 for 290 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. His biggest mistake came late when he scrambled from his own 1-yard line and threw a costly end-zone interception that turned into a zero-yard pick-six for Texas Tech.

Meanwhile, Lewis never saw the field against the Red Raiders. Before losing his starting role, the highly-rated freshman had thrown for 733 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions through the first four games.

The concern around Colorado is that if Sanders continues rolling with Wilson, Lewis could become a prime target for other programs looking to offer a massive NIL deal. Losing a talent of his caliber could come with serious consequences.

Sanders attempted to calm the situation after the loss, insisting Lewis was not officially demoted to third string. However, his vague response only added more speculation about the quarterback situation.

However, there is no guarantee things suddenly improve if either one of the two quarterbacks leaves. The Buffs are 124th nationally in scoring offense at just 18.6 points per game. They have moved the ball at times, but their inability to finish drives has been one of their biggest problems.

Sanders made it clear after the loss that the quarterback position is the biggest issue holding the team back.

“We got one glaring problem. You guys know darn well what that is. Let’s stop the foolishness. We’ve got to play better at one specific position,” Sanders said in his post-game press conference. “That’s the position that’s somewhat disabling us and disarming us. Somebody’s got to step up and take hold of it and get it done.”

With so much at stake, giving Isaac Wilson one more opportunity might be the most logical move for Colorado. But if he struggles again, Sanders may have no choice but to revisit his decision.

The upcoming bye week gives the Buffaloes a chance to reset before facing Utah. Sanders needs to find an answer quickly before the quarterback situation becomes a bigger problem for the program.