Nebraska football not changing anything for Colorado week

A videoboard overlooking Nebraska football’s indoor practice field contained a surprise on Monday afternoon: the Colorado logo.

Alongside three key team goals for the season — winning the turnover battle, being the most physical team in football and having a culture of execution — stood the silhouette of a buffalo and both teams’ records so far this season: “1-0.”

The graphic might’ve served as a fresh dose of motivation for Nebraska players who hardly need to be reminded about the importance of their upcoming rivalry matchup.

A big-time test awaits the Huskers on Saturday night, but that hasn’t changed the way they’ll go about their business this week.

“The basis of our program is (that) we don’t treat any game different than another in terms of our preparation,” head coach Matt Rhule said. “If you prepare more this week than you did last week, then what were you doing last week?”

Last week’s game preparation for a UTEP program which overhauled its roster via the transfer portal may have provided an early basis for Nebraska to begin the same process for Colorado.

The Buffaloes brought in 40 scholarship transfers this offseason, but one position that didn’t need overhauling was at quarterback.

Senior Shedeur Sanders returns as one of the nation’s top signal-callers one year removed from carving up the Nebraska defense for 393 yards. Rhule said that Sanders has a “big-time arm,” and praised the way the quarterback operates the Colorado offense.

“He’s got a great feel for the pocket, he can hurt you with his feet when he slides in the pocket to find guys who are open, he has excellent weapons around him and they ran the ball well this past game,” Rhule said of Sanders. “He’s courageous and tough; he’s an elite competitor.”

Sanders picked up right where he left off in Colorado’s season opener last Thursday, throwing for 445 yards and four touchdowns in a win over North Dakota State. That contest offered the first look at a Colorado offense line Rhule said was “rebuilt” over the offseason, and at the many pass-catchers the Buffaloes can rotate in and out of the game.

At the top of the list is senior Jimmy Horn Jr., a big-play threat who totaled 198 receiving yards in Colorado’s season-opening win. LaJohntay Wester (Florida Atlantic) and Will Sheppard (Vanderbilt) are impact transfers who’ll also feature heavily, while Husker fans likely need no introduction to Travis Hunter.

One of the rare two-way players in modern college football, Hunter played both cornerback and wide receiver against Nebraska last season and will likely do so again.

“They’ve got dynamic, dynamic playmakers,” Rhule said. “… You’re probably facing two of the first five guys drafted in the (NFL) Draft this week.”

As Nebraska scouts Colorado throughout the week, it can only rely on last year’s matchup as a way to evaluate the Buffaloes’ returning personnel. That’s because of coaching changes at both coordinator positions, where Sanders targeted replacements with NFL experience.

Pat Shurmur, a former NFL head coach, will coordinate the Colorado offense after taking over as the unit’s play-caller late in the 2023 season. Robert Livingston will take charge of the Colorado defense, a role he took on after a decade-plus with the Cincinnati Bengals.

It’s not just the coordinators that changed, too. The Buffaloes hired new assistants in the trenches, with Phil Loadholt coaching the offensive line and former NFL star Warren Sapp taking over the defensive line. Colorado plays “hard up front” as a result of Sapp’s presence, Rhule said, while noting that expects to see aggressive man coverage from the Buffaloes defensively.

There’s plenty of work to be done this week as Nebraska prepares for its primetime opportunity on Saturday night, but the Huskers aren’t looking ahead or doing things differently.

Regardless of last week’s result, Nebraska was always going to stick to its process — one that Rhule hopes will have the Huskers ready to go for their upcoming test.

“We are as day by day right now as we’ve ever been,” Rhule said.