Colorado football dominated in trenches by Nebraska; 3 takeaways

LINCOLN, Neb. — Deion Sanders and the Colorado football team were humbled in embarrassing fashion by their rival Nebraska on Saturday night.

Shedeur Sanders was hit often, sacked five times and intercepted by the Cornhuskers' suffocating defense during a game that had shades of the 2023 season. The Buffaloes trailed by four touchdowns at halftime and were unable to take advantage of Nebraska true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola's inexperience.

Nebraska dominated from start to finish, beating Colorado 28-10 to snap its three-game losing streak to the Buffs.

Here’s a look at how it happened and takeaways from the game:

Nebraska's physicality no match for Colorado

The improvement of Colorado's offensive line has been greatly exaggerated.

Shedeur Sanders had to slowly pick himself up off the Memorial Stadium turf early and often. The consistent pressure led to the projected first-round NFL draft pick making an uncharacteristic mistake from his own end zone.

Already trailing 7-0 early in the first quarter, Sanders' pass intended for true freshman Drelon Miller was intercepted by Nebraska defensive back Tommi Hill and returned for a seven-yard touchdown. It was all downhill from there for the Buffs.

Colorado starting safety Shilo Sanders left the game with what Deion Sanders said at halftime is a "broken forearm or something like that" and the Buffs missed their second field of the game (first one was blocked) as the first-half clock expired.

Virtually nothing went right for Colorado from the opening kickoff.

Meanwhile, Nebraska showed that it has the potential to compete in the Big Ten this fall thanks to a strong running game (138 rushing yards) and its playmaking quarterback (Raiola completed 23 of 30 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown).

Shedeur Sanders and Colorado offense stifled

This might end up going down as one of Shedeur Sanders' worst game in a Colorado uniform.

The Buffs' QB completed just 61% of his passes (23-for-38) for 244 yards and a touchdown. The only comparisons are Colorado's 42-6 loss to No. 10 Oregon (159 yards, one touchdown) and a 28-16 loss to No. 23 UCLA (217 yards, one touchdown) in 2023. Sanders was sacked seven times in each of those games. He didn't commit a turnover on either of those days, though, and he already has two interceptions through two games after throwing just three all of last season.

Sanders' protection certainly let him down, but he never seemed to get in sync with his receivers on Saturday night. Travis Hunter (10 catches, 110 yards) was the team's leading pass catcher but no other receiver topped four catches or 60 yards.

To make matters worse, the Colorado running game was non-existent once again. The Buffs finished the game with 12 rushing yards mostly due to -30 yards on sacks. Starting running back Charlie Offerdahl rushed four times for just four yards. Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden showed flashes (32 yards on five carries) in the second half but it was too little, too late once Nebraska built a big lead.

The keys for Colorado to beat Nebraska were to confuse Raiola, win the turnover battle and establish some semblance of a running game. The Buffs failed to do all three.

What does this mean for Week 3 vs Colorado State?

If the Buffs weren't already excited to see CSU again after last year's Rocky Mountain Showdown, they certainly are now. A beatdown on national TV will undoubtedly have Colorado motivated to knock off its in-state rival for the seventh consecutive time.

After a 52-0 loss to Texas in Week 1, the Rams picked up their first win of the season on Saturday vs. Northern Colorado.

The injuries of Shilo Sanders and CSU star receiver Tory Horton will be something to watch. Regardless, the Buffs have some soul-searching to do after such a disappointing performance.

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