Matt Rhule and Nebraska feel on cusp of revival

He shared not a warning, but a message — one reminiscent of one a father would give his unruly children — for fans to stay off Tom Osborne Field.

“That didn’t work,” Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola said with a laugh after the Huskers’ 28-10 victory over the Deion Sanders-led Colorado Buffaloes.

It didn’t work. They didn’t listen. They didn’t care. They wanted to celebrate. They wanted to relish in this — this feeling. What is this sensation? Joy? Remember bliss, Nebraska fans? It’s OK. It’s been a while.

Saturday’s victory marked Nebraska’s first win over Colorado for the first time since 2010. For context, that’s the year current Nebraska freshmen were likely entering kindergarten. They weren’t born the last time Nebraska fans rushed the field, as it’s been decades since fans jubilantly danced between these hash marks. So to those telling them to act like they’ve been here before, they haven’t. They’ve never experienced a victory like this.

And for those few minutes, they reveled in the moment. Cellphones out, recording the chaos. Smiling for selfies. Picking up players, like linebacker Mikai Gbayor, and parading them atop shoulders. Jumping along with “Narco” by Timmy Trumpet — doing so on the Block N alongside the Nebraska players remaining on the field.

As the stadium playlist made a strong key change to Zach Bryan’s “Revival,” they met the mood.

“We’re having an alll night reviiival!” they crooned along with Bryan’s famed chorus.

A revival. That’s what Saturday felt like. An instance of something becoming important again. A leg twitch of a sleeping giant that’s on the verge of waking.

“Don’t mistake my stoic look — I’m fired up,” Nebraska’s Matt Rhule said after the victory. “I’m fired up. But I’m fired up for the guys.”

But, at the same time, he offered, “Let’s just take it one game at a time. Where our players will get in trouble and where everyone will get in trouble is we’ll start zipping ahead to like four weeks from now, five weeks from now. We have not earned that right.”

This game was supposed to be close.

It’s Nebraska-Colorado. It’s a nationally televised, hate-fueled rivalry matchup with palpable intrigue. It’s a game between a Colorado offense that featured two of the nation’s best athletes and a dominant Nebraska defense. It was slated to be a high-scoring affair with two prolific and highly-touted quarterbacks.

Nebraska’s offense showed up. Nebraska’s defense showed out.

And Colorado missed the bus.

“Probably a lot of people thought this would be a close game,” Rhule said. “I’ll be honest with you. We expected this score. We expected it to be like this. We have a good team, and we felt like we were going to play really well tonight.”

Sure, Nebraska only won by 18. Sure, Nebraska only outgained Colorado by 74 yards. Sure, star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola only had 185 yards passing compared to Shedeur Sanders’ 244.

But that’s deceiving. Those numbers make it look like Colorado put up a fight.

The one exception? Shedeur Sanders. Nebraska’s Blackshirts had him running for his life since his shoddy offensive line left him to the wolves from the game’s opening moments.

On Colorado’s first drive alone — a three-and-out — Nebraska recorded a pass breakup (Ty Robinson) and a sack for a loss of 9 yards (also Ty Robinson).

On the second CU drive: Sanders had a chance meeting with Nebraska’s Polar Bear (Nash Hutmacher) and lost 11 yards out of the gate before, a few plays later, turning the ball over on downs after Gbayor stuffed running back Charlie Offerdahl at the Nebraska 30-yard line for a loss of 2.

The third drive, if you can even call it that, had Colorado backed up on the 2-yard line and star cornerback Tommi Hill snuffed out the pass Sanders had intended for his receiver — darting in front of the receiver to snag the ball from midair and racing the 7 yards for the touchdown.

The fourth drive? Another sack, this time from MJ Sherman who rocked Sanders for a loss of 5 yards on first down.

Fifth drive? A sack from Jimari Butler for a loss of 2 on third-and-8.

“If I was in that position where I’m getting hit that many times, whether I have the ball or not, I’d be frustrated as well,” Robinson said of Sanders. “…We just know what it’s going to do to him, and we’re just going to keep feeding off of that to help us with our energy and make sure that we keep that momentum going and take advantage of that.”

Nebraska’s dominant defense finished with six sacks, 10 tackles for loss, quarterback hits, an interception return touchdown, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. On special teams, Robinson recorded a field goal block, too.

(And, a sack that wasn’t: what would have been a thunderous 17-yard sack for Princewill Umanmielen on third-and-14 if not for an unrelated offside penalty on James Williams. Colorado would have had to punt from its 8-yard line)

Collectively, the Blackshirts limited Colorado to a measly 16 yards rushing — Nebraska’s best defensive effort in that metric since 2020 when the COVID year team held Purdue to minus-2 yards in the ground game.

“This was a big moment,” Rhule said. “This was really big for us to show up and not back down from their stars. Because we’re a little different. Our team is our star. I know Dylan is getting a lot of publicity and we have a lot of guys who could be stars. Our defense is a star. Everyone kept talking about this guy, that guy, that guy. I kept saying, ‘They’re forgetting our defense. They’re forgetting the Blackshirts.’”

Forget the Blackshirts at your own peril.

Count out Nebraska at your own risk.

Sure, there were ample lowlights on Saturday. There was the missed field goal. All those flags that may or may not have been correctly called. The lack of sustained drives in the second half. “Only” 334 yards of total offense, with 213 of those coming in the first half.

And to do so when the lights were the brightest?

To do so with Terence “Bud” Crawford in the house, leading them out of the tunnel? To do so with the 1994 national championship team in town to be recognized? To do so with former coach Frank Solich back to be honored ahead of his December induction into the College Football Hall of Fame?

Some Nebraska teams of the recent past could have folded under the pressure.

Not this team. Not in this game. Not in this stadium. Not this time.

“We’re fired up,” Raiola said. “Wins are hard to get in this game. We’re going to cherish and celebrate every one.

“But this one meant a little more to us.”