Colorado put up a valiant first half effort against No. 20 Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl, but before late, in the third quarter, things had gotten out of hand and the Longhorns cruised to a convincing 55-23 win.

For fans of the Buffaloes, less time should be spent agonizing over the loss, instead focusing on the very positive things that true freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis managed to do in his collegiate debut.

Coming out of fall camp, Lewis, considered one of the prize jewels of Colorado's 2020 class, was described by quarterbacks coach Danny Langsdorf as "raw."

Lewis received praise from coaches for his confidence, the quickness at which he learned CU's offense and his eagerness to ask questions. That said, Langsdorf and Karl Dorrell made it pretty clear from the get-go that Lewis did not have a legitimate chance to earn the starter's position ahead of Nov. 7's game vs. UCLA.

If Lewis proved anything during the Alamo Bowl, it was that he now has a legitimate chance to do just that for the 2021 season opener against Northern Colorado on Sept. 3 of next year.

Senior Sam Noyer started the game for the Buffaloes and played most of the first half as well as until about midway through the third quarter.

But to say he struggled in the game would be an understatement. To his credit, Noyer played with a nagging shoulder injury that has bothered him all season and one which Dorrell indicated may require surgery.

Suffice to say, the injury impacted Noyer's play, which was not clean. Inaccurate passes plagued him throughout the night, of which overthrows on would-be deep touchdowns to Daniel Arias in the second quarter and Dimitri Stanley in the third were particularly unfortunate examples.

When all was said and done, Noyer had gone 8-of-23 for 101 yards and two interceptions.

Lewis made his collegiate debut on Colorado's second drive of the second quarter.

With the Buffs in a 14-0 hole, Lewis embarked on his first college rush, gaining seven yards and shortly thereafter, found Stanley on 3rd and 8 for a 26-yard gain, setting the offense up at Texas' 2-yard line.

From there, the Buffs failed to gain a yard on their next three plays but opted to go for it on 4th and Goal. Lewis pitched the ball to Jarek Broussard, who muscled his way into the endzone for CU's first points of the day.

On the night, Noyer saw 44 offensive snaps over nine drives, of which Colorado gained 163 yards, averaged 3.7 yards per play and scored just three points.

Lewis wound up being the architect of the vast majority of CU's scoring drives. He got in 35 plays over seven drives, with the Buffaloes gaining 215 yards on a 6.1 yards per play average and scoring 20 points, all of which were touchdowns.

In fairness to Noyer, he did put together a respectable drive on Colorado's opening possession of the second half, but it stalled out at Texas' 19-yard line and Evan Price wound up shanking a 37-yard field goal attempt.

After Colorado's ensuing possession resulted in a three-and-out that gained a grand total of -2 yards, Lewis stepped in at quarterback for the remainder of the game.

In the video above, Lewis burst out of the backfield for a 44-yard rush that set up Colorado at the Longhorns' 3-yard line. Moments later, Broussard found the endzone on his second touchdown of the day.

"To be honest, he probably was the bright note of tonight, I would believe," Dorrell said after the loss. "I think he came in in some difficult circumstances and engineered a couple good drives. He's been doing a lot of that stuff in practice."

"It's good to see him kind of gain some experience, gain some confidence knowing that he belongs at this level, playing against a good program, to have the kind of success that he had."

Lewis completed 6-of-10 passes for 95 yards in the loss, rushing the ball for 73 yards on nine carries, as well. He scored what turned out to be the Buffs' final points of the game on a QB keeper from the 2-yard line that capped a 7-play, 75-yard scoring drive.

Earlier on the drive, Lewis completed passes of 15 and 16 yards to fellow true freshman Montana Lemonious-Craig and senior K.D. Nixon.

"I'm very, very encouraged by his performance today — no question," Dorrell said. "I'm sure he'll learn from this in terms of putting that feather of confidence in his hat, that he can move forward and continue to develop, feel like he's a very, very qualified quarterback on the college level."

"Hopefully that will be something that's good for him to carry into the off-season and keep building on going into spring practice."

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