Game Day Guide: What you need to know for Nebraska-Colorado

Nebraska versus Colorado. A rivalry returns to Memorial Stadium. Can the Huskers get the win?

Photo courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Happy game day. Let’s take a quick walk down memory lane. I promise we’ll come right back to the present day though, so stick with me.

Here is how coach Matt Rhule spoke about the Nebraska-Colorado matchup one year ago:

“When you have a legacy behind you, you have to live up to it and you have to build on it for the future,” Rhule said. “We also recognize once the ball is kicked we have to play. We have to play for 60 minutes.”

Well. Let’s just say that didn’t exactly go according to plan. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw for 393 yards and two scores, while running it into the endzone for one more. The Buffaloes were ranked No. 22 in the country at the time, and got the 36-14 win over Nebraska.

One year later, Nebraska is looking forward — not back.¹ Rhule and his Huskers have another offseason of work under their belts, and plenty more experience than they had even one year ago. The opportunity to get to 2-0 is there, especially against an old Big 12² foe. 

And yes, there is the whole rivalry aspect to consider. Heck, even Rhule shared a story earlier this week about taking a ski trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado, this year where a young woman said some things to him that he can’t repeat. He wasn’t offended. Instead, he said that’s what makes college football great.³

“We love all of that so this is a long established rivalry and I think it’s great for the game,” Rhule said. “I think it’s great for our university. People from all across the country get to tune in this week to see this football game. They’ll see our fanbase. They’ll see the class with which we play. They’ll see two great teams compete. They’ll see our campus. We have enough games like this and applications start to go up and admissions start to go up. Good things start to happen. That’s happened at Colorado so I think rivalry is great and yes, as we went through this process, I was showing my family Nebraska. I was showing them these games. You know you get on YouTube, the algorithms start sending those things, so we were watching all of these old games. 

“It was a great rivalry that I grew up on. A lot of those rivalries are dead now, so it’s great to play it.”

There was also a period of time where Nebraska always came out on top of the rivalry too. The Huskers won every meeting from 1991-2000, for instance. That’s particularly notable for one Nebraska player whose father Dominic was part of those teams.

“My dad said he never lost to them,” quarterback Dylan Raiola said. “This week he told me, ‘Just so you know I never lost to them.’ I know the rivalry runs deep. You have to stay focused on the task at hand. You can’t get caught up in everything else. We just have to worry about playing football and doing our brand of football."

A diplomatic answer from Nebraska’s freshman quarterback. Regardless, the Huskers would certainly like to get back on the winning side of this rivalry. They haven’t defeated the Buffs since 2010, the last year Nebraska was a member of the Big 12 alongside Colorado.

Will that happen Saturday? Vegas seems to think so, but we’ll know soon enough.

Everything you need to know for Nebraska-Colorado:

TV Channel: NBC (Paul Burmeister, Colt McCoy, Kathryn Tappen)

Date: Saturday, Sept. 7

Time: 6:30 p.m. CT

Live Stream: Peacock (with subscription)

Radio: Huskers Radio Network 

Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

Weather: Sunny. High of 77 degrees. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Line: Nebraska -6.5

Over/Under: 56.5

Notable quotes:

Matt Rhule on playing Colorado:

“I want us to enjoy this. We’re obviously having this opportunity because of Colorado and what they bring, but our fans are here because of us, so we’ll play for our fans, we’ll play for our families, we’ll play for each other, and play for the state of Nebraska.”

Rhule on Colorado’s team last year versus this year:

“Well, they have two new coordinators, so some different offense and different defense. Spent a lot of the summer watching the Bengals defense and Coach (Robert) Livingston, where he’s come from and obviously Coach (Pat) Shurmur has been doing this a long time, a guy that I respect a lot. You can go back the last year and see some of the players and what they do, but I don’t think there’s any secrets here about what they’re capable of, they're dynamic playmakers. They’ve rebuilt the offensive line, they’re big, they’re physical, and defensively they play man coverage, they pressured a bunch of the second half to slow down North Dakota State, they play really hard, I mean Warren Sapp is their d-line coach. They fly around, they’ve got really good players, and a well thought out scheme and well coached team.”

Defensive coordinator Tony White on facing an explosive Colorado team:

“When you’re playing a heavier-run team, you tend to change your periods to more run, heavier inside. When you get into teams that want to throw the ball and get you out into space and stuff, you do a little bit more seven-on-seven and get the guys in more space-oriented situations. That way, the gameday is more like practice. You do little things like that. That’s the great thing with Coach (Rhule). He says, ‘What do you guys need?’ and if it’s more seven-on-seven, we’ll do seven-on-seven. If it’s more team, if it’s more against the offense, whatever it is we need to do to put these guys in the situation that they’re going to be in in the game, he allows us to do. Doing little things like that and making sure that we harp on the little things that get us in position to make plays.”

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders on facing Nebraska:

“I have a ton of respect for Matt Rhule. He’s in − I call it our class of coaches. We all took on a tremendous task that year along with (Arizona State) coach (Kenny) Dillingham and several others. So I feel like we’re a fraternity. So I root for that class of head coaches that came in that year.”

Colorado offensive lineman Justin Mayers on what this game means:

“I feel like every week is personal, especially this one. It’s a bigger game, because it’s rivalry week, but we want to attack every game like it’s rivalry week. Nebraska I hear is going to be sold out and all these things, but that still doesn’t faze us.”

Other games we’re watching this week:

(All games in CT)

Erin

No. 3 Texas at No. 10 Michigan, 11 a.m., FOX

I am just going to take this space to share with you that game day is two words, unless you’re talking about the show College GameDay which just so happens to be in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Just kidding. I’ll talk about the game, but also please start spelling game day as two words. As for the matchup, this is only the second time these two teams have met with the other meeting coming in Jan. 2005 at the Rose Bowl. Texas defeated Michigan, 38-37. What will we get almost 20 years later? Well, probably not that score. In fact, it will likely be much lower scoring this time. One thing that seems pretty possible to remain the same? Texas winning. Sorry, Big Ten.

Iowa State at No. 21 Iowa, 2:30 p.m., CBS

It’s Cy-Hawk Trophy time! Who will come out of this one victorious? The key to this one is that Iowa appears to have an offense (maybe??) this year, which is highlighted by its run game. Hawkeyes running backs Kaleb Johnson and Kamari Moulton combined for 185 yards rushing last week against Southern Illinois, while Iowa allowed 174 yards on the ground against North Dakota. The Cyclones also were only able to run the ball for 86 yards themselves, which isn’t great. Regardless, I suspect it’ll be close but it feels like Iowa’s game to lose.

No. 14 Tennessee at No. 24 NC State, 6:30 p.m., ABC

This game is the only 10 I see. I’m sorry. No, I’m not. Anyway, Tennessee is a 7.5-point favorite in this one and that makes sense. The Vols have a pretty solid defense and never seem to have all that much trouble scoring. It all really depends on how quickly NC State can step up. If they don’t come out of the gates swinging, it could get difficult to come back from.

Brandon

No. 17 Kansas State at Tulane, 11 a.m., ESPN

I can't help it. Any time a power conference team deigns to go on the road against a Group of 5 team, I'm going to be tuning in with vigor. I think Kansas State is good. I also think this line (KSU -8.5 at last check) is a bit high. It would surprise me, but not shock me, if the Green Wave had a chance to win outright late in the game. If the Wildcats steamroll, probably time to move them up in the rankings.

Baylor at No. 11 Utah, 2:30 p.m., FOX

Utah has lost two home games since 2019, and one of those was in 2020 so it doesn't count. That said, I'd be on Baylor here (+14.5 on Friday night) if forced to make a pick. That half-point hook is nice, but really this is more of a status check. I think the Bears are a decent rebound pick in a season in which coach Dave Aranda is thought to be on the hot seat. If the Utes just steamroll Baylor, Aranda might be. But I'm expecting Baylor to keep things close in a place few teams do.

Boise State at No. 7 Oregon, 9 p.m., Peacock

I'm anticipating that I'll be so energized after the Nebraska-Colorado game, no matter the result, that more football will be all I want late Saturday night. Luckily, we've got a pretty good slate of West Coast games, highlighted by one of the best G5 teams visiting Oregon. Do the Ducks show that last week's sleepwalk against Idaho was an outlier. I think it was, but let's find out.

1. Yet here I am looking back, but I promise I have a point!

2. But also current Big 12 foe, I guess? This conference realignment thing is all so goofy.

3. You know what else makes college football and its rivalries great? The history. For instance, from 1951-61, Nebraska’s Innocents Society and Colorado's Heart and Dagger Society exchanged a mounted buffalo head named Mr. Chip. Unfortunately, Colorado lost Mr. Chip in 1961 and was unable to present it when the two met in 1962.