Colorado still has many of the same flaws it had a year ago.
On Saturday night, the Buffaloes were exposed against Nebraska as the Cornhuskers cruised to a 28-10 victory in Lincoln. Nebraska took control of the game from the start and went into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
Those four touchdowns included two drives of 70 or more yards, a touchdown drive and a wild touchdown catch by Nebraska running back Rahmir Johnson.
After Nebraska took a 7-0 lead, Tommi Hill intercepted Shedeur Sanders for a 7-yard touchdown when Sanders made a reckless throw from the sideline into zone coverage.
Johnson then capped the first-half scoring with his TD catch after a pass was deflected by Colorado linebacker LaVonta Bentley.
While Nebraska was racking up points, Colorado couldn’t run the ball and Shedeur Sanders was getting sacked. Sound familiar? Sanders, who was sacked more than 50 times in 2023, was sacked four times in the first half and the Buffaloes finished with minus-17 rushing yards in the first 30 minutes.
And when Sanders wasn’t getting knocked down, he was getting hit often. Because Shedeur had to get off the turf more often than he would have liked, his brother Shilo was in the locker room. At halftime, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders said Shilo had suffered a possible fracture in his forearm.
Nebraska’s Big Win
It’s clear that Matt Rhule’s team is much better than Nebraska’s previous teams. This should be a team that breaks an eight-season bowl drought.
Nebraska hasn’t won more than five games in a season since 2016, when it went 9-4 under coach Mike Riley. That was also the last time Nebraska started a season with a 2-0 record. Yes, Nebraska has had at least one loss by the end of Week 2 in each of the past eight seasons.
A jump in Year 2 would also match the jumps that previous Matt Rhule-coached teams have made in their second seasons. Temple improved by four wins in Rhule’s second season and Baylor improved from 1-11 in Rhule’s first year to 7-6 in Year 2.
A six-win jump for this Nebraska team would be an 11-win season. That’s probably a little out of reach. But you can’t blame Huskers fans for being optimistic. Especially after beating a Colorado team that jumped to supernova status in Week 2 a year ago with its win over Nebraska.
Rookie QB Dylan Raiola was much better in the first half than the second, but he has shown plenty in the first two weeks of the season to prove why he was a five-star recruit. There will be struggles in conference play, but the schedule doesn’t really get tough until the second half of the season.
Where does Colorado go from here?
After an offseason in which players were added to seemingly improve the roster, this Colorado performance looked a lot like Colorado’s performance in 2023.
One bright spot was the defense. Yes, Nebraska’s offense had its good moments in the first half, but the defense was much better over the final 30 minutes, even though linebacker Trevor Woods had been ejected for targeting a ball and defensive lineman Chidozie Nwankwo also suffered a forearm injury.
However, the offense remains incredibly one-dimensional and relies too heavily on Shedeur Sanders’ ability to make a play and Travis Hunter’s greatness. Sanders did not re-enter the final four minutes of the game after taking a hard hit to the head early in the fourth quarter. He also left the field entirely after the two-minute warning.
It will be another long season if the Buffaloes can’t fix their offensive line issues. Colorado finished the game with 244 passing yards and just 16 rushing yards.
The line added numerous transfers in the offseason and a new offensive line coach, former NFL lineman Phil Loadholt. So far, the group hasn’t gelled. Nebraska’s defensive line has consistently outplayed it.
Without a functioning offensive line and the ability to run the ball, Colorado’s path to bowl eligibility is once again especially difficult. Especially in the Big 12.