After UTEP romp, Nebraska excited for Colorado

The Huskers’ 40-7 victory Saturday over UTEP was their first win in a season opener since 2019. The offense hummed. The defense swarmed. The action at Memorial Stadium unfolded the way it was supposed to against a Group of Five opponent with a new coach.

Matt Rhule and his players got some satisfaction in seeing the past month of training camp pay off.

It was enough to buy a few hours of grace, a few hours before returning to reality the next day.

“It’s just a tone-setter,” defensive lineman Ty Robinson said. “It’s an expectation every week to go 1-0. We’re gonna celebrate, enjoy this win, all the hard work we put in during fall camp and the summer and the spring and winter. But when Monday comes around, it’s time to get back to work.”

Then the Deion Sanders show comes to town Saturday.

A year after beating Nebraska 36-14 in Boulder, Colorado arrives for a 6:30 p.m. NBC-televised game.

The Huskers have a chance to beat their former Big 12 rival for the first time since 2010. A win would legitimize this iteration of Nebraska, and validate the optimism after beating UTEP.

“At home? Night game? You can’t ask for nothing else than that,” running back Gabe Ervin said. “Can’t ask for nothing else.”

The Buffaloes also enter with plenty on the line.

For all the bright lights and bluster Sanders has brought to Boulder, CU went 4-8 in 2023, ending the season on a six-game losing streak. Colorado topped North Dakota State 31-26 last Thursday and finds itself in a position similar to Nebraska: Seeking a win over a power-conference opponent to prove the first week wasn’t a product of the schedule.

Against the Miners, Nebraska got a chance to ease into the season before the competition increases. The Miners don’t have players with athleticism like Colorado’s Travis Hunter, but they provided a preview of the pace the Husker defense will have to handle.

UTEP and Colorado both hurry to the line of scrimmage and test a defense’s poise, looking for a breakdown. With the exception of one touchdown drive, Nebraska’s defense handled it well.

NU had a default coverage to drop into when the Miners sped up, and allowed 205 yards of total offense.

“We condition just as much as they condition,” linebacker MJ Sherman said. “We run half-gassers. We did mat drills. We’re ready for it. We’re just as in shape as they were, and it showed today.”

Colorado will also move quickly between plays, minimizing the time between receivers Jimmy Horn and Hunter stretching the secondary and quarterback Shedeur Sanders extending plays before hitting one of them in stride. It was a formula that worked in last year’s win.

But Nebraska will step onto the field with a new confidence, one it didn’t have the last time it saw the Buffs.

The Huskers got their first win out of the way and proved they’re capable of playing good football on Saturdays. To beat Colorado would build on it, hitting another benchmark to show that the 2024 Huskers are different from the version that endured a trying 2023.

“We’ve been going against our own color for a while, but to do it against another team, no matter who they are, nameless, faceless opponent, it’s just knowing that, ‘OK, we did it before,’” Sherman said. “We did it in a game. Now that confidence just rises.”