Colorado football used three quarterbacks in its 31-7 victory over the Delaware Blue Hens last Saturday at Folsom Field in Boulder, and it appears that Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has already made up his mind about which of those signal-callers will get the chance to start under center in this coming Friday's game versus the Houston Cougars at TDECU Stadium in Houston, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Wrote Thamel in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Sources: Colorado is expected to start Ryan Staub at quarterback for the game at Houston on Friday night. He entered the Delaware game on Saturday as the third-string quarterback and shone, completing 7 of 10 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.”
Staub is getting the QB1 gig after shining against the Blue Hens. In that game, Staub threw for a total of 157 passing yards and two touchdowns against zero interceptions on 7-of-10 pass completions. Kaidon Salter, who was the first starting quarterback choice by Colorado football, went 13-of-16 for 102 passing yards with zero touchdowns. Meanwhile, freshman Julian Lewis was only 2-of-4 for eight passing yards.
Not many saw this development coming in the Buffaloes' QB room, especially this early in the 2025 college football season. For one, Staub was just a third-stringer at the start of the season, but he now gets the keys to the offense on the field, with an opportunity to run away with the job.
“He's just been waiting for his opportunity,” Sanders said after seeing Staub impress against the Blue Hens, per Max Olson of ESPN. “Never jumped in the portal, he had every right to think that way. But he's just been a great human being and a great young man, like a leader amongst that room. All he needed was the opportunity, and I thought it was time.”
However, the Cougars present a tough challenge for Staub and Colorado's offense. Houston is 2-0 to start its 2025 campaign, having defeated the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and the Rice Owls by a combined score of 62-9.
Colorado is 1-1 through two games. The Buffaloes lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Aug. 29 before the win over Delaware.
