LINCOLN, Neb. – Searching for positive things to say after his team suffered a 28-10 loss here at Nebraska, Colorado football coach Deion Sanders came up with this:
His team won the second half, 10-0.
‘I’m just excited,’ Sanders said after the game. ‘I mean, you gotta understand when you’re in a situation like this, you gotta find something to hold onto that you can encourage your team. And I’m truly excited about the second half of football that we played.’
That’s one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at is that Sanders and the Buffaloes still have many of the same problems as last year despite overhauling the roster for the second consecutive year.
∎ Last year, they gave up the second-most quarterback sacks in the nation (56). On Saturday, they gave up six more.
∎ Last year, the Buffaloes finished last in the nation in rushing yards per game with 68.9. On Saturday, they gained just 16 rushing yards on 22 carries.
∎ Last year, they also had the third-most penalties in the nation with 107. On Saturday, they had nine more for 104 yards.
Isn’t he concerned about all these repeat problems?
‘Yeah,’ Sanders said, before reemphasizing his team’s success after halftime. ‘And I wish I could have struggled with no one really scoring on us in the second half for I think two weeks straight. I wish I could have had those struggles a year ago. Those are good situations to be in. Now we’ve just got to put it together in the first half. There’s always progress my man.’
In this case, Colorado has other problems, too
For example, Colorado’s offense this year was supposed to be explosive. It showed flashes of it in Colorado’s first game, a 31-26 win against North Dakota State.
Why did it have so much trouble against Nebraska’s defense?
‘I have no idea,’ Sanders said. ‘If we would have known that answer, I think we would have responded quicker. Like we just never got it going until it was too late.’
After dominating the first half, Nebraska led 28-0 at halftime. The Cornhuskers (2-0) then tried to kill time after that, especially in the third quarter when they gobbled up 9:30 of the 15-minute period.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, finished with 23-of-38 passing for 244 yards and one touchdown. He also was sacked two times in his first four plays and threw an interception that was returned 7 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. By the end of the game, his team had converted only four of 14 third downs.
Like his father, Shedeur didn’t want to say too much when asked about his team having the same blocking issues as last year.
‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘I ain’t watched the film yet.’
Shedeur said his team had come to the game prepared, but then came the reality of a live game in front of a sold-out crowd of 86,906 at Memorial Stadium.
‘Maybe everybody on the team, maybe we just wasn’t ready,’ Shedeur Sanders said.
Deion Sanders makes comment about Matt Rhule
Last year, Deion and Shedeur Sanders had ‘personal’ issues with the Cornhuskers and their coach Matt Rhule before the game.
One year later, Deion Sanders called Rhule a ‘great guy’ and said something about him after the game that might be tough to stomach for Colorado fans who hate everything about rival Nebraska.
‘I’m happy if we’re gonna get our butts kicked, it might as well be him, a God-fearing man,’ Deion Sanders said.
Last year, the Buffs finished 4-8 in Coach Prime’s first season after starting 3-0, including a 36-14 win at home against Nebraska. Now they’re 1-1 heading into next Saturday’s game at rival Colorado State.
‘Sometimes you have those games,’ Deion Sanders said. ‘Sometimes you have those days. And that was just one of those games and days simultaneously. No excuses, though.’
What Matt Rhule said about Deion Sanders’ team
Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola completed 23 of 30 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown for Nebraska, which also got two rushing touchdowns from running back Dante Dowdell.
Nebraska is now 2-0 for the first time since 2016, when the Huskers finished 9-4.
‘That’s a really good football team,’ Rhule said of Colorado. ‘They’ll make a ton of noise in the Big 12. Guarding number five (receiver Jimmy Horn Jr.) and guarding number 12 (two-way star Travis Hunter) and guarding number two (Shedeur Sanders), those are as good of players as you’ll play against. On the defensive side, they’re as active and violent of a defense as we’ll see.’
Hunter appeared frustrated much of the night. He had 10 catches for 110 yards and three tackles on defense. Horn only had three catches for 26 yards after catching seven balls for 198 yards in the season opener.
Deion Sanders’ postgame theme
How Colorado responds to this loss will be telling. Do the Buffs make a nosedive like last year when they lost eight of their final nine games? Or do they snap back and beat their in-state rival next Saturday on the road?
‘We gotta be able to handle pressure,’ Deion Sanders said. Not just pressure from the opposing defense but ‘pressure of the game, pressure of the moment.’
‘I want to see how we all respond to adversity,’ Deion Sanders said.
That’s especially true of the offensive line, which Colorado reconstructed after last year with transfer players and freshman tackle Jordan Seaton, the top offensive line recruit in the nation. Sanders was careful about how he chose his words when describing their performance Saturday.
‘Protections were a problem,’ Sanders said. ‘I’m trying to be polite and say it, because I could say the same thing you’re thinking, but if I say it, then you say I’m throwing my guys up under the bus,’ Sanders said. ‘I’m not doing that whatsoever. Protections were a problem. We gotta find a way to prevent that and do a better job of that.’
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com