BOULDER — Things are starting to spiral out of control in Deion Sanders’ first season at Colorado.

Another loss that was highlighted by another ugly performance by the Buffaloes (4-5, 1-4 Pac-12) offense until late in the game resulted in a 26-19 defeat to No. 16 Oregon State (7-2,4-2 Pac-12).

The first game of the Pat Shumur as co-offensive coordinator era certainly didn’t seem to provide the boost Deion Sanders was probably hoping for.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Shedeur Sanders just isn’t right

Whether it was the injury itself or the lack of practice reps due to the injury or a little bit of both, but in the last two weeks, this hasn’t been the same Shedeur Sanders that we all saw take the college football world by storm in the first two months of the season.

Sanders had one of his worst passing games as a Buff, finishing 24-for-39 for 245 yards and two touchdowns.

He was sacked four times on the night, but was hit countless more times at the end of throws and needed to go to the locker room with just under three minutes left in the third quarter.

Whether it was wise or not, Sanders returned to the game and led the two best drives of the night upon returning to the game as CU managed to put a little pressure on the Beavers in the final minutes.

Defense continues to force turnovers

While the CU offense is in a complete tailspin, the defense continues to get better since the bye week that followed the disastrous performance after halftime against Stanford.

The Buffs are still a little bit too much of a ‘boom or bust’ unit reliant on turnovers, but they continue to force them at a solid rate.

Shilo Sanders forced a fumble for the second straight game and cornerback Omarion Cooper Sr. also poked a ball loose that CU managed to recover.

There was a lot asked of the unit as Oregon State held the ball for over 30 minutes and the Beavers were able to rack up over 400 yards and score points on the first four drives of the second half.

Poor clock management by Coach Prime

There really haven’t been too many blunders by Coach Prime this season in terms of what he’s responsible for on gamedays.

Even aside from the questionable decision to elevate Shurmur, Sanders had some pretty poor clock management at the end of the first half on Saturday night.

With the Buffs trailing 7-3 in the final two minutes of the half and with the ball inside their own 5-yard line, Sanders allowed the offense to operate as normal and that resulted in a punt out of the back of the end zone, which was returned all the way to the CU 20-yard line after a penalty.

The Beavers needed just one play to score a touchdown and take a 14-3 lead into the halftime locker room and that turned out to be a big touchdown in the grand scheme of the game.

GAME RECAP

What happened: Colorado dropped its third straight game and has a losing record for the first time under Coach Prime after a 26-19 defeat to No. 16 Oregon State. The Buffs now need to win two of their final three games to reach bowl eligibility.

On offense: A clearly-hobbled Shedeur Sanders gutted it out but he and the CU offense could not get anything going against the Beavers. The Buffs totaled 238 yards in the first game with Pat Shumur as the primary play caller. Travis Hunter had eight catches for 98 yards and a touchdown on the night.

On defense: The Buffs defense played with a ton of energy, putting pressure on Oregon State QB DJ Uiagalelei and forcing a another two turnovers, but the time that unit spent on the field was just too much as the Beavers totaled 419 yards of offense and were able to ice the game in the fourth quarter.

Up next: CU will play its final home game of the season next Saturday afternoon as Arizona comes to Boulder for Senior Day. The suddenly dangerous Wildcats will certainly pose a bigger challenge than everyone may have expected a few weeks ago. Kickoff is set for noon on the Pac-12 Network.