Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins wasn’t nicked up when his dad, Dan, pulled him from the field with almost a full quarter to play Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The hook in the Buffs’ 30-14 loss to No. 16-ranked Kansas was performance-related – nothing else.

“Yes,” third-year CU coach Hawkins said simply, asked if he went with freshman QB Matt Ballenger to provide a spark with the Buffaloes down by 16 points with 10:25 to play. CU trailed just 16-14 entering the final quarter.

Hawkins – he was a man of few words after the Buffs fell to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12 – said “Cody will start” next week against Kansas State.

Cody Hawkins, a sophomore who completed eight of 22 passes for 90 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and one safety, was more talkative than pops in explaining his removal.

“Matt’s a great player. It’d be stupid not to think so,” said Cody, whose low point of the game was getting sacked in the end zone by KU’s Jake Laptad for a second-quarter safety that gave KU a 9-7 lead.

His high point had been an 11-yard first-quarter TD strike to Cody Crawford and 38-yard completion to Josh Smith that set up his own one-yard TD run to slice KU’s lead to 16-14 with 1:03 left in the third.

“We lost a little bit of momentum. Putting Matt in there might have provided a spark for some guys,” Cody Hawkins added. “We were looking to get a little edge back, get guys excited a bit putting Matt in there. Matt works hard every week and deserves to get on the field.”

Ballenger, who stands 6-foot-4, compared to Hawkins’ 5-11 frame, completed five of eight passes for 57 yards. He was sacked twice, Hawkins once.

“I came in the fourth quarter. It was fun. I didn’t play as well as I’d have liked,” Ballenger said.

Ballenger praised KU’s defense, which held the Buffs to 233 yards. So did Cody Hawkins.

“They have a good defense, one that forces you to make a lot of routine plays,” Cody said. “They do just enough to mix it up, put guys in position to make plays. They have good athletes and are well coached and play within their scheme very well.”

He thought KU played especially well when the Buffs cut the lead to 16-14 with a stiff wind at their backs in the final quarter – one that KU ruled, 14-0.

“I thought we had a chance going into the fourth quarter. I thought we were playing pretty well,” Cody Hawkins said. “I thought we had some good mojo going.”

The Buffs headed back to Boulder after the game, set to begin preparations for a home game against Kansas State.

“Just got to keep going,” coach Hawkins mumbled, asked what CU needs to do.

What’d he tell the team after the game?

“The same thing, in a long-winded way,” he said.