Owen McCown will once again start for Colorado when it travels to Arizona on Saturday.

CU head coach Karl Dorrell announced on Monday that McCown, a true freshman who started in the Buffs’ Pac-12 opener against UCLA, will once again start at quarterback against the Wildcats in Week 5.

McCown debuted against Minnesota in Week 3, when all three Colorado quarterbacks saw the field in an ugly 49-7 loss. This past weekend in a 45-17 loss to UCLA, McCown finished 26-for-42 for 258 yards, two total touchdowns, and two turnovers.

“I felt like he had an OK performance, close to solid performance,” Dorrell told reporters on Monday. “Did he make some mistakes? Yes, a couple big turnovers that led to some scoring opportunities for UCLA. He had an interception that was in our territory and he had a sack-fumble that was in our territory. Both of those were things that were devastating for us and put our defense in a bad position. But his overall body of work was pretty solid. I thought he saw the field pretty well. You saw some youthful things at times, but I don’t think the game was too big for him.”

McCown led the Buffs on two touchdown drives after failing to score multiple touchdowns in a game in any of the first three weeks. His 258 yards passing were the most by a CU quarterback since Sam Noyer threw for 267 in the 2020 season finale against Utah.

The 6-foot-2 youngster takes over for Brendon Lewis, who opened the year as the starter, and JT Shrout, Lewis’s replacement.

The Buffs (0-4 overall, 0-1 Pac-12) face the Wildcats (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12) at Arizona Stadium in Tucson on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.