THE 24 HOUR RULE: The Colorado Game Was the Best of Both Worlds Nebraska Huskers Matt Rhule Dylan Raiola

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat.

Colorado is a not very good football team with a couple or more exceptional football players. Deion Sanders dove into the portal last year – with the key additions being family and his best other players from Jackson State – and transformed a one-win team into…a four-win team who went 1-8 and held down the Buffs’ spot at the bottom of the Pac-12.

Or as Billy Beane put it:

Deion saw this and chose to roll again with the same strategy – fire everyone who performed below expectations or was otherwise deemed unworthy and replace them with transfers instead of committing energy and resources to player development. While rolling with two stars in basketball can work, football, with 22 starters, requires a more complete roster, especially in the trenches where Colorado is still hapless after flipping the starters for the second straight season.

And after the first two games, the Buffaloes appeared “primed” (sorry) for similar results. We should know in a few months if the reason for this approach was to max out Shedeur’s value and then flee Boulder for an NFL job, which he might be deluded enough into thinking is still a possibility.

“So why is this asshole trying to remove all the joy from this game?” you may be asking yourself. I would assert you would be mistaken if thinking I’m trying to make anyone less happy about that win (although you’d be spot on about the asshole part).

I’m still 1000% sky high about Saturday night and as an avid hater of my college football enemies, I’m over the moon watching a a goofy and mostly new fan base completely believing the Sonny Gerber salesman who convinced them a 1978 AMC Pacer bubble car with tinted windows and flames painted on the sides he sold them was going to deliver a CFP Championship performance.

Instead, another losing season is sitting there smoking on the side of the road while they stare at the sales agreement which has “AS IS” in big block letters at the top staring back at them and giggling uncontrollably.

Too much? I think not.

No, it is fine to love that game. We handed them a big win last season and didn’t just shoot ourselves in the foot, we voluntarily had that sumbitch amputated. About not just the Colorado game, I opined we would’ve won 9+ games with merely subpar quarterback play . The reasoning was merely breaking even in turnover margin would flip things considerably and we actually won that battle 2-0 Saturday.

Stephen Bruce

However, we have to be honest with ourselves in that beating Colorado convincingly is something we just flat out should have done if we’re serious about ramping our level of play to that next level. Enjoy it? Fine. Does beating the #60 team in the country mean we should be top 25? Not necessarily.

Let’s put it this way. We play play Northern Iowa next weekend and their first two games against weak competition included a 17-10 won over a St Thomas, MN, team who was blown out 34-13 the previous week by…Sioux Falls. This is the last chance you will see healthy body on the roster play.

After that, the schedule goes:

Illinois
Purdue
Rutgers
Indiana
Ohio State
UCLA
USC
Wisconsin
Iowa

Every team listed with the possible exception of UCLA, who is just looking West Coast as hell right now, will be much, much more physical than the glitter sprinkles from Boulder. Hey, we’re physical, too, because, hell yes, we are. But Colorado wasn’t that test. They were business which needed taking care of and we did.

The tests are coming and the first one will be Illinois in a Friday night contest against a team which turned away the improved Kansas Jayhawks after getting knocked around a little last season. Say what you will about Bert; his teams battle.

Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

So what’s my point per the article title?

Glad you asked. As much fun as the first half was, the second half was listless and it wasn’t just the refs even though they were truly awful in the second half. Anytime you get fired up for college football and get subjected to old men throwing piss-colored laundry at each other, it’s disappointing.

Stephen Bruce

However, much of it was self-inflicted. The team came out flat and maybe it was tough keeping the energy level on full blast. But they have to find a better way to try.

Another issue was the coaches and play-calling seemed to go into “play not to lose” mode which proved disastrous multiple times under Scott Frost when taking leads into the second half. Saturday night, outside of a 12-play 52-yard drive which ate 6 minutes of clock at the end of the 3rd quarter, the Huskers ran 3, 4, 3, 6 and 3 plays.

Thanks to the defense, it worked out. However, they need to take a few chances and go for the throat. Even dragging out the play clock as much as a possible on runs between the tackles before a three and out will not prove a solid long-term strategy. The receiving corps is deep, Raiola clearly makes better decisions than his predecessors and Colorado had 8 and 9 people up in the box.

Sure, we’re going to run the ball. But lull them to sleep a little, bring them up close and rip the top off that coverage now and then. The fans will have their backs for playing fearlessly. Fine, I’ll admit we’ll have hearts in throats due to decade or more of gut punches, but don’t worry about it.

We’re ready for this.

Stephen Bruce

So what I’m trying to say is that a fantastic first half and a very imperfect second was what the doctor ordered for the team, rather than a wire to wire blowout. They get the satisfaction of shutting some mouths and taking care of business, but they headed back to practice this week knowing there’s plenty to fix and on which to improve – both coaches and players.

Staying hungry every week is what will level this up. Just keep winning those boss battles and moving on. Let the Colorados rage quit.

Stephen Bruce

Nebraska Cornhuskers
Colorado Buffaloes
#huskers
#gobigred
#nebraska
#mattrhule
#dylanRaiola