Something Colorado fans have been screaming for all season happened last week, and you probably didn't even realize it.
According to multiple reports, Deion Sanders stripped offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur of play-calling duties following Colorado's blowout road loss to Utah. Duties were handed over to TE's coach and pass-game coordinator Brett Bartolone, whom Coach Prime is very familiar with. Bartolone was Prime's offensive coordinator during his Jackson State days.
USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer first reported the move. Sanders was coy about coaching staff changes during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, alluding to the possibility of a move having already been made.
"I might already have changed it, and you don't know," Sanders said. ..."That's up to you to notice it. It may have already happened."
The problem is that there was no discernible difference between the offense from week to week. It's probably asking too much for things to look drastically different after just one week of practice, but Colorado seemed to call the same stale play calls that have plagued it all season long.
Perhaps with a week of preparation to get freshman QB Julian Lewis ready for this weekend, things will look a lot different in Morgantown.
Bartolone is a young, up-and-coming offensive mind who learned under Mike Leach at Washington State. He was a WR for the Cougars during Leach's time in Pullman.
Colorado fans are wondering where Byron Leftwich is
Coach Prime brought in Byron Leftwich late in the summer, but there's been little said and written about the former Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator and NFL QB since then. It seemed inevitable that Leftwich would eventually take over for Shurmur as the team's offensive coordinator, and maybe that's what happens over the offseason. But, for now at least, Leftwich's absence in Colorado's offensive planning is strange.
The Buffs need an infusion of new ideas. Most Colorado fans weren't happy with Shurmur as the play-caller last year, despite the Buffs' offense moving the ball consistently. That credit mostly goes to Shedeur Sanders, who frequently turned water into wine for Shurmur.
Kaidon Salter wasn't the miracle worker Sanders was. Perhaps Lewis can be that, and mask the same stale play-calling that has allowed Colorado to score a whopping 24 points over the last two weeks.
Now that the decision is public knowledge - despite Colorado's refusal to confirm the reports - fans will look on with a more watchful eye this week.