Colorado is turning to Pat Shurmur for its offense again, and this time the Buffaloes are asking him to do it with a Go-Go system that is supposed to fit a roster full of new faces. Shurmur is Colorado’s third offensive coordinator in four seasons, a measure of how often Deion Sanders has had to reset the group that is supposed to carry the program forward.
That is why his name is drawing attention now. Colorado opens the season Thursday, Sept. 3, at Georgia Tech at 8 p.m. ET on, and the offense will be one of the first things judged after a summer that brought 41 new scholarship transfers from other four-year colleges. Of those 23 transfers from outside the Power Four conferences, 16 were former starters, giving Shurmur a depth chart full of players who have already been asked to perform elsewhere.
The system itself is part of the appeal. Shurmur’s Go-Go offense has averaged at least 33 points per game since 2023, a number that suggests the scheme can generate production even when the personnel changes. He brought the approach with him after serving as offensive coordinator at UNLV in 2023, and Colorado is now betting that the structure can help sort through an offense that started three quarterbacks last year and still needs a clear identity.
Some of the pieces are there. Kam Perry started 12 games last year at Miami (Ohio) and made 43 catches for 976 yards, the kind of production Colorado is hoping can translate quickly. Sean Lewis is in the mix too; he was one of Colorado’s three starting quarterbacks last year and started two of those games, and he arrived with a résumé that included being 18 years old and a touted freshman out of Georgia with a 39-4 record as a three-year starter in high school. That kind of turnover and inexperience helps explain why the offense has become such a focal point.
It also sits against a hard reality. Sanders said in 2025 that he had assembled his best coaching staff ever, but Colorado still finished 3-9 after he had made a similar best-team claim the year before. The staff has changed around Shurmur, too, with a new defensive coordinator, new cornerbacks coach, new defensive line coach and new safeties coach all in place for 2025, which means the offense is trying to settle in while the rest of the program keeps moving.
Colorado also needs more than ideas. Last year it ranked 135th out of 136 major college teams in rushing yards allowed per game at 222.5, so every possession matters and every offensive adjustment has consequences beyond the box score. Shurmur has said Lewis has a million-dollar arm and that he understands how to win a football game, but the bigger test is whether that belief turns into steady play once the Buffaloes are on the field.
For Colorado, the opener at Georgia Tech is less a first snap than a first answer. If the Go-Go offense clicks early, Shurmur’s third stop as the program’s offensive coordinator could look like a reset. If it stalls, the questions about how many times Sanders can change course will only get louder.
