Kaidon Salter 'stood up and stood out' in Colorado's upset win over Iowa State

A week ago, many fans and media believed it was time for Deion Sanders to make a change at QB. At 2-4, the season felt lost, and the only solution appeared to be to turn the keys over to freshman Julian Lewis and let him learn on the job to prepare for next season.

Kaidon Salter threw three interceptions in the loss to BYU, continuing a trend of puzzling decision-making by the veteran Liberty transfer. With a bye week looming, another loss likely would have led to Sanders making the change at QB.

Instead, Salter "stood up and stood out" in Colorado's 24-17 win over Iowa State, putting together his best performance of the season.

"He stood up and stood out," Sanders said about Salter. "He did his thing... I'm happy for him, I truly am."

Salter threw for 255 yards on 16-of-25 passing with two touchdowns. He made a couple of jaw-dropping throws to help Colorado get the win. Throws that most Colorado fans - and even OC Pat Shurmur - probably didn't think he had in his bag.

The first was the go-ahead touchdown pass to Joseph Williams late in the third quarter that gave Colorado the lead for good:

Salter then hit Williams to effectively seal the game on a 3rd-and-16 with a perfectly placed ball:

This is the version of Salter Colorado fans thought they were getting. And this version of Salter makes the Buffs a team that nobody is going to want to play down the stretch.

Kaidon Salter credits his ability to 'play the next play' for his performance

Salter is still brimming with confidence, despite his season-long struggles. Even after getting benched for a game, Salter still believes in himself. That showed in a major way against Iowa State, and is the reason the Buffaloes were able to pull off the mild upset.

“I feel like that’s one of my best attributes: playing the next play," Salter said. “I can go out there and do some bullcrap like last game and play the next play.”

Salter was facing adversity. Another loss might have effectively ended his college career. Coach Prime won't admit it, but there's a good chance they would have made the move to Lewis during the bye week had Colorado fallen to 2-5. But at 3-4 instead, the Buffs are back in the thick of the race for bowl eligibility.

You have to credit the team for not giving up. The losses had piled up - and more than that, the way Colorado had lost games was disheartening. But this team hasn't quit. They've continued to fight.

"This team right here, we never quit.," Salter said. "We have a team full of dawgs that just don't quit."