By Brian Howell,Gqlshare

Copyright denverpost

Regardless of who plays quarterback for the Colorado Buffaloes going forward, third down efficiency will be a key.

Following a 36-20 loss at Houston on Friday night, head coach Deion Sanders said he had “no idea” who would start at quarterback when the Buffs host Wyoming on Saturday at Folsom Field (8:15 p.m., ESPN).

Whether it’s senior Kaidon Salter (who started the first two games), sophomore Ryan Staub (who started at Houston), or freshman JuJu Lewis (who played a bit off the bench in Week 2), the Buffs have to find more success on third downs.

Against Houston, CU (1-2, 0-1 Big 12) had just 300 yards in total offense and went three-and-out six times in 12 possessions. The Buffs had less than 10 yards in eight of those 12 possessions.

“I think just third down efficiency,” Staub said when asked why the offense sputtered.

CU was just 4-of-14 (28.6%) on third downs. Staub, in fact, completed only 2-of-11 passes on third downs against the Cougars, with more of his passes being intercepted (two) than turning into first downs (one). There was also a dropped pass in there, but more often than not, Staub was off target.

“When three-and-outs piled up, that’s a lot of pressure placed on the defense, and sooner or later, you’re going to implode,” Sanders said. “I don’t care who you are, you’re going to implode unless you get a big play on special teams.”

So far this season, CU is 10th in the Big 12 in third-down efficiency (37.2%), but that number is a bit inflated with a 7-for-16 mark (43.8%) against overmatched Delaware. In losses to Georgia Tech and Houston, the Buffs are 9-of-27 (33.3%).

Third down defense has been an issue, too.

Houston was just 7-of-18 (38.9%) on third downs, but had some timely conversions. The Cougars also went 2-of-3 on fourth downs.

During the pivotal third quarter, when Houston held the ball for 12 minutes, 49 seconds and ran 26 plays to CU’s five, the Cougars were just 2-of-5 on third downs, but 2-of-2 on fourth downs. That allowed them to score 10 points and gain some breathing room.

“We’ve got to do much better on stopping the opposing team from running the football, but we’ve got to do much better in keeping control of the ball so the opposing team don’t have that type of time of possession,” Sanders said.

Sticking together

Throughout the preseason, CU’s quarterbacks spoke about the bond in the room. That hasn’t changed through some shuffling, Staub said.

“It’s still solid,” he said after the loss to Houston. “Our team’s gonna go as far as our QB room kind of goes. Those guys (Salter and Lewis) definitely need to stay ready, stay supportive. We need to all support each other, help each other, and yeah, this team’s only gonna go as far as far as that room goes.”

Byard steps up

Sanders understandably didn’t want to single out any player standing out on a defense that didn’t play well at Houston. However, safety Tawfiq Byard may have had his breakout moment for the Buffs.

A sophomore transfer from South Florida, Byard had a team-high 14 tackles against Houston, as well as a pass breakup and half a sack. He didn’t start but when he got in the game, he helped to shut down Houston’s star tight end Tanner Koziol.

Koziol had just four catches for 33 yards, including two for 30 in the first half with others covering him. A transfer from Ball State, Koziol has 111 catches in his last 15 games and Friday was just the second time in that stretch he finished with less than five.

Byard, who played 51 snaps in the first two games combined, played 59 snaps at Houston.