LUBBOCK, Texas — Colorado was trailing 13-0 to Texas Tech in the first quarter when a staff member came up to Shedeur Sanders and told him all he needed to hear.

“Look around, no one’s panicking,” the Buffaloes quarterback recalled postgame.

Even in a game where the CU offense didn’t score until midway through the second quarter, the unit had more than enough firepower to pull away for a 41-27 win for the No. 21 Buffs on Saturday night.

“There was a lot of unfortunate things that happened early on in the game,” Sanders said. “A lot of busted routes, a lot of things that we gotta improve, a lot of missed reads and stuff.

“We knew we could do it.”

Sanders and the offense did about everything they needed to do in the third quarter when they scored touchdowns on three straight drives out of the halftime break to take an 11-point lead.

Despite being sacked three times and with a run game that wasn’t helping him much, Sanders finished with 291 passing yards and three touchdowns as he relied on a trio of receivers — Travis Hunter, LaJohntay Wester and Will Sheppard — to carve up the Texas Tech defense.

“Everybody’s playing loose,” Sanders said. “We’re gonna figure it out and we’re gonna get it. Nobody’s playing tense anymore, I think. We’re just going out there and being us and that’s the fun thing when it comes to football.”

Walk-on Cash Cleveland makes an impact

Deion Sanders doesn’t care how many stars are beside your name as a recruit. If you can play, you’ll play.

That’s exactly why freshman walk-on center Cash Cleveland was on the field for the Buffs’ second offensive possession of the game. After a bad snap on the first drive, CU made the change and replaced Hank Zilinskas with Cleveland.

“We’re not scared to put him in,” coach Sanders said. “He was practicing with the ones all week. I don’t know what prompted that because during the game there’s so many things that are happening, but we don’t flinch when Cash is in. It’s not like we’re stepping down.”

It’s everything that Cleveland does during the week that gave the coaching staff the confidence to put him in.

“You’re talking about a guy who watched a ton of film, a guy who’s tremendously prepared,” Deion said. “You’re talking about a guy who’s probably out-weighed every game but he knows technique and fundamentals and he does the job. I’m really proud of him.”

The starting quarterback is quite fond of him, too.

“He handled his business,” Shedeur said. “Cash is a funny guy out there. He’s never really mad ever. He laughs, he smiles. He’s the same guy, always. It’s always fun when Cash is out there. He’s just a little general up there.”

Too many penalties

There is one number on the final stat sheet that will annoy coach Sanders. Okay, well technically two.

It’s the 14 penalties for 106 total yards that CU committed in the game. Some of them were intentional delay of games on punts to give Mark Vassett more room to kick, but there were plenty more that were silly and extended Texas Tech drives or ended Buffs drives.

CU finished with eight penalties on offense (five delays of game) and six on defense, including a pair of roughing the passer calls and two taunting calls that totaled 60 yards on those four plays alone.

“That’s not who we are,” Deion said. “The stupid stuff like hitting the quarterback, pushing the quarterback — that’s just stupid. We coach and we teach against that. That’s not indicative of who we are. We gotta be better. We gotta be smarter. We don’t teach that foolishness, I promise you. Usually, when you see them make a penalty like that, you see them come right out of the game.”