Before the season, Deion Sanders talked up redemption after a brutal 3-9 campaign. Instead, Colorado followed a 41-7 humiliation at Northwestern with a 23-13 loss to Baylor, and now the comeback narrative is already cracking. The biggest warning sign came at quarterback, where Sanders benched Julian “JuJu” Lewis at halftime after the offense managed just three points in the first half. That move immediately raised a tougher question: is Coach Prime already losing faith in the quarterback he was supposed to build around?
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Lewis took his final snap with 30 seconds left in the second quarter. Four seconds into the third, Isaac Wilson was already running the offense. So Sanders did not exactly need much time to think it over. Halftime was enough to decide three first-half points were not cutting it.
After back-to-back ugly losses, frustration was starting to creep in. Apparently, though, benching Lewis was not the same as losing faith in him. Deion Sanders made that clear in his postgame press conference: “Don’t do that; don’t give up on JuJu. I think he plays with tremendous effort and tremendous heart, and he’s not quitting. We’re not abandoning anybody; we just needed a change and inspiration at that time, in some kind of way.”
Baylor was different. Sanders stuck with Lewis through a rough first half against Georgia Tech and was rewarded with a game-winning drive. Against Weber State, Lewis was pulled only after throwing for 366 yards and four touchdowns in a blowout. Against Baylor, he was benched because the offense was going nowhere.
Before getting the hook, JuJu Lewis completed 11 of 16 passes for just 75 yards with no touchdowns. Things looked shaky enough that offensive coordinator Brennan Marion was caught telling him to “stop being scared.” Lewis also took three first-half sacks for losses of 7, 7, and 9 yards. His only positive rush went for six, leaving him at minus-17 rushing yards by halftime.
The offense was not doing him any favors either. Colorado converted just one of seven third downs in the first half, and by halftime, Sanders had apparently seen enough.
Wilson did not fix everything immediately. Colorado punted on its first three possessions with him, but he eventually led a field-goal drive and then a 95-yard, 12-play march capped by a 17-yard touchdown to Joseph Williams that tied the game 13-13 with 11:04 left.
Baylor answered with a 33-yard touchdown pass and later a 54-yard field goal. Colorado’s final three drives ended with a punt, a lost fumble and a turnover on downs, wiping out the momentum Wilson had created.
After the loss, Sanders took responsibility. “We’re better than this,” he said. “It seems as though we’re better than our opponents, but the score does not dictate that. And that’s the fascinating thing about it. We gotta find out why.”
Sanders said the switch was simply about finding a spark. Wilson finished 12-of-25 for 156 yards and one touchdown after playing the entire second half. “Isaac came in, a little shaky, nervous, I don’t know what, then he calmed down a little bit and got us down the field. Did his job. That’s all we wanted.”