It should go without saying that racking up a grand total of 67 passing yards in a given game is far below what Colorado's coaches are hoping for on a game-by-game basis.
Yet, in Saturday's 35-13 loss at Arizona State, that was all freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis managed through the air, completing 7-of-17 passes in the process.
In week one against Northern Colorado, Lewis passed for 102 yards; that remains his season-high, following totals of 89 against Texas A&M, 82 vs. Minnesota and now 67 at ASU.
For CU fans already fuming at the mere suggestion that Lewis passing for 67 yards constitutes improvement on his part, it's worth looking beyond his lackluster stat line to explore how that assertion may well actually pass muster.
While Lewis' performance didn't warrant celebration, nor did it signal that all of his growing pains and inexperience-related issues are behind him, he was better than prior weeks.
After the Sun Devils had scored for the first time in the game, on the Buffs' ensuing possession, they faced an all-too-familiar 3rd-and-long from their own 18-yard line.
With CU having gone 6-of-27 on third downs leading into that play, which encompassed all third down tries against Texas A&M and Minnesota, as well as the Buffs' initial third down against ASU a bit earlier in the first quarter, in which Lewis was sacked for a loss of nine yards, suffice to say that the chances of a conversion weren't Colorado's favor.
But Lewis managed to connect with sophomore Dimitri Stanley for a 10-yard gain, moving the chains.
Also in the first quarter, Lewis escaped a collapsing pocket, rolled right and placed the ball into a tight window that freshman wideout Montana Lemonious-Craig managed to come down with, in tip-toe ballerina fashion.
Shortly after Lemonious-Craig's nice catch, Lewis once again managed to evade ASU defenders crashing the pocket, slipping away for a 33-yard scramble that set up a 46-yard field goal attempt by freshman kicker Cole Becker.
Lewis also hit Stanley for a six-yard gain on 4th and 4 on a drive that resulted in a Becker field goal that were CU's first points of the game.
"I thought Brendon played OK," said Karl Dorrell postgame. "I thought he had a couple steps of progress this week. We need to continue to bring him along, along with our passing game."
Ultimately, the drive that saw Stanley reel in a 10-yard pass on third down resulted in a punt. Becker's first field goal try wound up being blocked.
But that being said, given that Colorado's offense had eclipsed 20 consecutive drives without managing a single drive, seeing a third down conversion as well as a chunky gain by Lewis on the ground marked an improvement in its ability to move the ball.
Lewis was also let down a couple times by his receivers, namely via a dropped pass on 3rd and 8 at ASU's 33-yard line by Ty Robinson in the second quarter.
Lemonious-Craig also failed to come down with a ball on 3rd and 6 in the third quarter.
"I thought he hit some opportunities or some throws and a couple receivers dropped the ball, so that negated some of that productivity on the passing game," Dorrell added.
By game's end, Lewis had been sacked three times, at least in part, as Dorrell saw it, due to Lewis' reluctance to get rid of the ball.
"I thought Brendon held the ball a couple times there, that made a couple sacks, but I thought he threw some good passes today," Dorrell said. "There were a couple drops in key third down situations that hurt us where I thought (Lewis) was on target but we didn’t finish the play."
Obviously, picking out minor moral victories only goes so far in providing any sort of solace following a 35-13 loss.
But for Lewis, who continues to adjust to the ropes of college football, his performance against the Sun Devils constitutes a modest step in the right direction.