Mishkind: Apsay Plays Well In Relief of Injured Liufau

BOULDER — In Colorado's 27-24 Friday night loss to USC, Cade Apsay had the chance to prove he can step up to the challenge of being Colorado's quarterback.

After an injury to starter Sefo Liufau in the first quarter, Apsay came in to throw a pair of touchdown passes, the first of which — a 9-yarder to Nelson Spruce — was the first of his college career and gave the Buffs a 14-3 lead in the second quarter.

"I was ready," Apsay said. "The second I saw (Liufau) struggling; it wasn't like a frightened mood or anything. I was confident."

Apsay had appeared in two games prior to Friday night, playing against Nicholls State and Stanford. But both were fourth-quarter appearances, when the game had already been decided.

Friday night he came in with the game still very much on the line. The redshirt freshman quarterback was sacked on his first play, but came back to finish with 18 completions in 23 attempts for 128 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

"If I were to give it a grade it would average like a C because there was a lot of things I could do better and execute better," said Apsay of his performance. "It was OK. I could do better for sure."

Though the Buffs had control of the first half, they were not as strong in the second, as the Trojans rallied to score 24 unanswered points. With USC holding a 27-17 lead in the fourth quarter, Apsay and the offense had a final push. A 45-yard punt return from Spruce put the Buffs on the USC 2-yard line. On the second play of the possession, Apsay threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to George Frazier and Diego Gonzalez's PAT cut the deficit to 27-24.

The Buffs, though, couldn't muster another scoring drive on their last possession and USC ran out the clock to secure the win.

"It's a great job for Cade to go out there and step up," said Jered Bell. "There was no reason for us to put our heads down, we have faith in Cade and our offensive coordinators and our plays so it's up to us to go out there and execute."

Coach Mike MacIntyre announced that Liufau suffered a Lisfranc foot injury that will require surgery and will be out for six to eight months. It means the Buffs are in need of a new starting quarterback. MacIntyre said he and the coaching staff will discuss the situation and look at both Apsay and Jordan Gehrke next week.

"Today it would probably be Cade, but we'll see how a week in practice goes," MacIntyre said. "But we have to have them both ready because Jordan is a snap away from being out there."

After a tough loss, the Buffs are headed back to practice to prepare for Washington State. Apsay said his preparation time will no doubt increase.

"It'll definitely intensify 100 fold. I was always studying film and asking questions in meetings. Now it'll definitely be more film, more questions, just much more focus," Apsay said. "But I'm a lot more confident in myself and in the playbook now than (in the Stanford game)."