HOUSTON — The muted celebration told the story.

As Ryan Staub heaved a pass into the end zone, Joseph Williams ran under it for a 37-yard touchdown catch. Only it made just a dent in the Houston lead.

After the third-string quarterback energized the Colorado offense off the bench in last week’s win over Delaware, the Staub Show wasn’t nearly as productive as advertised in a 36-20 loss in the Big 12 opener.

“I’m lost for words,” coach Deion Sanders said. “No one could’ve told me that this game was gonna turn out like this with the week of preparation we had.”

On a hot Friday night at TDECU Field, the redshirt sophomore failed to get in any sort of rhythm. He orchestrated two long touchdown drives to make it a 16-14 game at the end of the first half, but that’s about all the offense had for any sort of consistency as the next score — the pass to Williams in the fourth quarter — came nearly two hours after the previous touchdown.

“We were feeling good (at halftime),” Staub said. “Throughout the game, we weren’t good enough on third down and we had two drives that put us right into going into (halftime). Three-and-out on the first drive of the third quarter and (then Houston) had the ball for the whole quarter. I can’t do that to the defense. It’s tough to win that way.”

The Buffs finished 4-for-14 on third down, and that included zero third down conversions in the second half and zero conversions on third downs with nine or more yards to go.

“We just were three-and-out too many times,” Staub said. “A lot of that falls on me. We had a couple drops, a lot of missed throws, and just put the defense out there too much, just didn’t have enough time of possession.”

Outside of Simeon Price’s 38-yard touchdown on the ground, it was mostly on Staub as the running game proved ineffective. 

“I feel as though we have the players with the ability to be physical and run the darn football,” Coach Prime said. 

Still, Staub’s accuracy wasn’t nearly what it needed to be, especially on downfield throws, as he struggled to get timely completions on third down when the game was still in doubt. 

“Staub didn’t play well, I saw what you saw,” Sanders said. “That wasn’t his best, to say the least.”

Six different players caught at least two passes, and it’s clear the Buffs have yet to find one or even two go-to receivers that can carry a game like they had last season in the quartet that eventually made their way to the NFL.

“Just (need to) keep working, keep getting reps at everything,” Staub said. “At the end of the day, it always falls on the quarterback.”

Will the Buffs go back to Kaidon Salter, the veteran Liberty transfer who started the first two games? Or will five-star freshman Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis get his chance to start?

“I have no idea right now,” Coach Prime said. 

With Wyoming coming to Boulder next week, the Buffs seemingly have a chance to get back on track before Big 12 play resumes in two weeks when BYU visits Folsom Field. But Coach Prime isn’t letting go of Friday night’s performance anytime soon. 

“I’m still dumbfounded on what transpired,” Sanders said.