Shedeur Sanders was knocked out of Colorado’s game against Washington State Friday night, attempted to return, and then was once again injured and forced out of the game. At that point, Colorado called it a day and replaced its star quarterback.

“It was tough sledding from then on,” coach Deion Sanders said after the 56-14 loss.

Shedeur was hit from behind in the first quarter, taking a heavy shot right to his throwing arm from Wazzu’s Ron Stone Jr. The hit forced a fumble that was picked up by the Cougars and returned for a touchdown. Shedeur got up holding his arm.

Ryan Staub replaced him for the next possession, but Shedeur was back out on the field for the following drive and threw a 45-yard touchdown to Travis Hunter.

Then in the second quarter, Shedeur was sacked again. Colorado recovered an errant snap and punted the ball away, but Shedeur was taken to the locker room after the game and did not return.

“He had numbness in his hand. He got hit in the forearm and he couldn’t really grip the ball, he couldn’t really feel the ball. Then, the second time he got injured, we had an errant snap and they rolled up his ankle and that was it,” Deion said.

Colorado gave up five sacks on the day. Shedeur was sacked four times on Colorado’s first 10 offensive plays. He has been under siege all season, and the toll finally became unbearable against the Cougs. After the game, Deion shot down any talk of shutting his quarterback down.

“Shedeur’s not that kind of player,” Deion said. “He wants to finish with his teammates. I haven’t talked to him about it, but I’m pretty sure he wants to finish.”

Shedeur finished the game with 86 passing yards and a touchdown. He completed six of his 10 passes before exiting.

The loss to Wazzu dropped Colorado to 4-7 on the year and ended any hopes of a bowl game. CU has lost five consecutive games. It’ll close the year at Utah on Nov. 25.