Shedeur Sanders held in check in Buffaloes loss to Beavers: "Sometimes it's good to go through this process"

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders isn't moping about the the Buffaloes 26-19 loss to the Beavers on Saturday or any of their other recent losses lately. On the contrary, Coach Deion Sanders' son is looking at it as something that will pay dividends next year.

"Whenever you win all the time you don't ever really go through that grit, that pain, that suffering. So, sometimes it's good to go through this process to make sure you don't ever feel like that again," he said after the loss to No. 16 Oregon State at Folsom Field. "So, I'm fine with it."

Shedeur came into the game as the nation's second-leading passer with a 337-yard average. But he was limited to 41 yards before halftime and finished with 245 after two late touchdown drives following an in-game painkiller injection for the second straight week in his sore hip.

"When I get mad, it's just a different me," Sanders said of his pair of 75-yard touchdown drives after the Buffs' first 10 possessions resulted in just 78 yards of offense.

Beavers linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said the plan was "to punish him every single play no matter what."

The Beavers (7-2, 4-2) started slowly but picked up steam with a pair of touchdown drives spanning halftime, then tacked on field goals on their next two drives before running out the clock on their final possession.

With their fifth loss in six games, the Buffs (4-5, 1-5 Pac-12) fell under .500 for the first time all season.

After a painful loss at UCLA last week in which his quarterback son was under constant durress, Coach Prime switched up play-calling duties, promoting Pat Shurmur from consultant to co-offensive coordinator. He called plays from the booth down to the field where original coordinator Sean Lewis relayed them.

"It's not really a big change," Shedeur Sanders said. "We're all in this together."

Coach Prime said the change was necessary to try to shake the Buffs from their offensive doldrums, but ESPN commentator Brock Osweiler was critical of Colorado for not adding a tight end or running back to the protection scheme and basically leaving the five O-linemen on an island all night. The Buffs don't use their tight ends for blocking and routinely line up with four wide receivers.

The change to Shurmur didn't provide the spark the Buffaloes had hoped as they managed just 52 yards of offense in the first half and mismanaged their final possession, leaving the Beavers enough time to score a touchdown that gave them the double-digit halftime lead.

Sanders promised a different Buffs team in the second half, including his QB, who was 11-for-19 for 41 yards at that point.

Yet, it was more of the same after the break until Shedeur Sanders hit Travis Hunter from 15 yards out to pull CU to 23-12 with 10:41 remaining. After an OSU field goal, Sanders directed another 75-yard drive, capping this one with an 11-yard pass to Anthony Hankerson, to pull Colorado to 26-19.

Among the more than a dozen prospective recruits at the game was somebody who could help keep Sanders safe: five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton from Washington, D.C.