BOULDER \u2014 Sefo Liufau took a break from training to be a firefighter just long enough to watch Shedeur Sanders burn Nebraska square in the backside.<\/p>\n
“(Shedeur has) definitely got to be a little more accurate than I was my junior year,” Liufau, owner of 64 CU passing records, including yards in a season and touchdowns in a season, told me Saturday by phone after watching his beloved Buffs stomp the Huskers into corn mash, 36-14. “I would say he’s definitely more accurate.<\/p>\n
“(Sanders) has done a very good job of extending plays. He’s got good presence in the pocket. He says confident and humble at the same time. Which is very hard to find these days.”<\/p>\n
You know what’s harder? Finding a Power 5 defense that can make Sanders, son of first-year Buffs coach Deion Sanders, look remotely human.<\/p>\n
Most first-time QB1s at CU get to wade in the shallows a bit first, in order to get used to the water. The 2023 fight card chucked Shedeur straight into the deep end. Son of Prime made his FBS debut against the defending national runners-up, a good Big 12 team in TCU, on the road. He took his Folsom Field bow against a hated rival and a Big Ten roster in Nebraska, which rolled into town ranked among the nation’s top 35 defenses in fewest points allowed per drive.<\/p>\n
Not a cupcake in the bunch, even if Huskers signal-caller Jeff Sims holds the rock like it’s a Hostess Twinkie. Sanders’ stat line after those two tests: 69 completions on 89 pass attempts (77.5%), 903 passing yards, six passing touchdowns, one rushing score, and zero picks. Which basically means Son of Prime is on a pace to:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Throw for 5,418 yards. (Liufau owns the CU single-season mark, with 3,200 yards in 2014)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Throw for 36 TDs. (Sefo’s record again, with 28 in ’14.)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Account for 42 TDs “responsible for,” as in passing and rushing scores combined. (Sefo’s No. 1 again, with 28 nine years ago.)<\/p>\n
“I hope he breaks all my records,” Liufau continued. “I have never really cared for records, per se. It just never really crossed my mind.”<\/p>\n
Cody Hawkins was right. Kid Sanders ain’t him. Cripes, Shedeur looks like he might be the best QB to don CU gold since Kordell Stewart and Koy Detmer left town.<\/p>\n
No. 2’s pulling off the kind of stuff in reality that you and your frat brothers did while playing Electronic Arts’ old “NCAA 14” video game. With Huskers breathing down either ear hole for most of the afternoon, Sanders the younger nonetheless completed 31 balls on 42 attempts for 393 passing yards, throwing for two scores and galloping for another.<\/p>\n
While still getting sacked seven times. And that number could’ve been nine or 10, if he weren’t busy weaving and feinting between the hashmarks like a young Patrick Mahomes.<\/p>\n
“He never just sits back there to hold on to that ball,” Coach Prime explained after the game. “And his read may be here, but you may see it got wide open over there, but that wasn’t his read. They probably blew something, but that was his read … I used to question him all the time, especially coming up in high school, coaching him, because I was calling the plays for him. But then when I watched the film, I understand what he’s saying.”<\/p>\n
The kid’s best Houdini moment, ironically, amounted to an incompletion by a whisker. On a 2-point conversion with 10:45 left in the game, Buffs up 29-7, Sanders dropped back and looked left. With Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor closing, he dodged an outstretched paw and ran right. Still backpedaling with eyes downfield, he shrugged off an attempted tackle by Nick Henrich at the 22, then a desperation reach by Nash Hutmacher at the 20. Running out of room on the boundary, Son of Prime then threw a laser across his body at the 17 for a diving Anthony Hankerson in the end zone, who appeared to grab the ball in real time before replays showed it had skipped off the turf first.<\/p>\n
“Everybody’s regular to me,” Shedeur said. “And (if it’s) me vs. them, I know I’m better.”<\/p>\n
So far, just like dad, he’s backed that last part up.<\/p>\n
“(Shedeur) can take all my (records),” laughed Liufau, who was recently hired to be a firefighter by the city of Auburn, Wash. “Well, he can earn them, I guess.<\/p>\n
“If he breaks them, I have no problem with handing any of those over. Hopefully, he can take all those from me.”<\/p>\n
In 40 starts, Sefo steered the Buffs to 16 wins. That’s the number he most wants Sanders to blow out of the water and into the stratosphere. Or the College Football Playoffs. Whichever comes first.<\/p>\n