BOULDER — Quarterback play had been the talk surrounding the Colorado Buffaloes in the lead-up to Saturday’s game against Delaware. It will undoubtedly continue to be a hot topic, following the Buffs’ 31-7 win over the Blue Hens at Folsom Field.

All the talk around the QB room so far this season has been focused on Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and 17-year-old freshman Julian Lewis. Head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders even tipped everyone off on Tuesday, telling anyone within earshot that both Salter and Lewis would get time under center.

What Coach Prime kept under wraps was that he had a third QB ready to go in sophomore Ryan Staub.

Salter got the start, which Coach Prime said would happen, leading the Buffs down the field in a pair of 12-play drives resulting in two scores, an opening drive rushing touchdown and a 28-yard Alejandro Mata field goal, on their first two drives. Salter’s 9-yard TD run to open the scoring marked his third straight TD to start the season, a feat that a CU QB hasn’t done since Bobby Anderson in 1968.

Lewis relieved Salter over the next two drives of the game, completing two passes on four attempts, but was not able to add to the Buffs’ 10-0 lead.

Delaware found the end zone with 45 seconds to play in the first half, making it 10-7, and the expectation was for Colorado to take the 3-point lead into the half. But Coach Prime and the Buffs had other thoughts.

Staub, who played 20 snaps last season and started one game at Utah in the 2023 season finale, ran onto the field and went 80 yards in seven plays, finding DeKalon Taylor for 21 yards down the middle of the field for the touchdown and a 17-7 lead at the half.

“I think we had 45 seconds before the end of the half, and Coach Prime said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘Let’s go’,” said Buffs Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur. “I called his first play to get a completion, and they batted it down. But in a two-minute drill, you only need to make one play to get yourself going and he hit the long seam ball, and then called ‘Switch All Go’ to get in the end zone. He threw the check down, and we scored.”

The surprise QB returned for the third quarter, hitting Sincere Brown down the right sideline for 71 yards to go up 24-7 early in the third quarter, becoming what is believed to be the first third-string QB to throw for two touchdowns in a game in CU history. Staub, who had committed to the Buffaloes before Coach Prime’s arrival, spent two years as Shedeur Sanders’s understudy and, despite starting the season third on the depth chart, persevered until he got an opportunity to shine.

“Staub don’t trip, man,” gushed Coach Prime. “I had told him he’s going to get his opportunity. He’s got his opportunity. If Staub got sent down there to the scout team, does he trip? No. He just goes down there, gets his work in, and makes sure he’s sharp. He stays sharp because, guess what, he’s practicing against the ones, which keeps him sharp. Staub, don’t trip. He’s been in this system for three years now, and he’s just unflappable, man. He’s a great human being in life. Love him.”

Staub led the team to three TD drives, finishing his day as the top QB statistically. He led the Buffs with 157 yards passing with seven completions on his 10 attempts and a QB rating of 267.9. Salter returned to the game in the fourth quarter, finishing 13-of-16 for 102 yards passing, with 25 yards rushing.

Both Salter and Staub finished with 100 yards passing on Saturday, becoming just the seventh pair of CU passers to reach 100 yards in the same game, and the first since Cade Apsay (145) and Jordan Gehrke (113) did so vs Utah on Nov. 28, 2015.

Lewis got back in the huddle for the final drive, killing off the clock with three kneel-downs.

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Story by Seth Pringle, Athletic Communications for CUBuffs.com. Content courtesy of the University of Colorado at Boulder.