The Colorado Buffaloes, fresh off two consecutive Big 12 conference beat downs  will travel to Morgantown, West Virginia on Saturday to face the rejuvenated West Virginia Mountaineers in a game CU has to win to maintain any chance a qualifying for a postseason bowl game.
Colorado (3-6 overall, 1-5 in the Big 12) and West Virginia have never met as conference foes before. They have played twice, a home-and-home two-game set in 2008 and 2009, with each team winning on their home field. Current West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez is in his second stint leading the Mountaineers program. Previously, he coached in Morgantown from 2001-2007 before leaving for the head coaching job at Michigan. He did coach against Colorado in the Pac 12 when the Buffaloes were in that conference and Rodriguez was the head coach at Pac 12 member Arizona from 2012-2017.
That means there is a bit of familiarity, but not a lot.
The trip will be a brand new experience for Colorado Head Coach Deion Sanders, who has never coached against Rodriguez or against West Virginia at home or at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Freshman get the call under rainy skies
Both teams will be starting freshman quarterbacks on Saturday, when the weather forecast is calling for a drizzly morning with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees at kickoff. The Mountaineers (also 3-6 and 1-5 in conference play) are coming off an upset of nationally ranked Houston last week, and will be led by freshman Scotty Fox, Jr. Â Theyâre a run-first team with some quick-strike capability. Thatâs not great news for the Buffs, who have been on the wrong end of five scoring plays of more than 50 yards in just the last two weeks.
CU will also be starting true freshman Julian âJu Juâ Lewis, who will be making his third start and appear in just his third college football game. He did throw a 50-yard touchdown pass during garbage time last week against Arizona, and Colorado fans are eager to see him get his first chance as the starter.
Sanders has to get Colorado up off the mat
Sanders faces the task of getting his players to rebound following two disastrous weeks that saw them lose by a combined score of 105-24. He was typically complimentary of Rodriguez during his weekly media briefing on Tuesday, before pushing back on questions as to why he has shut off media access to his players in the wake of the two bad losses.
“Thatâs a great question,â Sanders responded to Mark Kiszla of the Denver Gazette. Â âLet me tell you why. I have a fatherly spirit. And I have an overseer spirit. Iâm trying to shield my guys from certain things that may harm them. I know the temperature of the room. I know if they canât handle this at this time. Certain guys can, certain guys canât. I canât differentiate those guys and tell you, âYou can talk to them, but you canât talk to them. Everything is fair that you guys (write or say) until it gets personal…I want to protect them. I have a fatherly spirit.
âSo my job is to protect them and put an umbrella around them until I feel like theyâre ready for the attacks and the assaults,” Sanders concluded.
Kickoff is at 12 noon EST on Saturday.
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