Nebraska football is up next against Colorado and here are three bold predictions as the Huskers aim to upset the Buffaloes.
The first week of the Nebraska football season went according to plan, until the last five minutes when the Huskers turned the ball over twice in a brutal loss to Minnesota.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Colorado now ranked No. 22, went on the road and defeated 17th-ranked TCU, the national runner-up in 2022.
Deion Sanders told everyone that Colorado was going to be successful and he was sure to point out all the people that didn’t believe in him.
Folks better take Colorado football seriously. The Huskers surely are and Matt Rhule knows that Sanders can coach. He said he wasn’t surprised by what he saw from Colorado, but I’m confident he’ll have a good game plan in store this week, and here are three bold predictions for the Huskers against Colorado.
Nebraska pounds the rock
The Huskers will put the game in the hands of the offensive line. Nebraska football had 181 rushing yards last week against Minnesota, while Colorado gave up 262 yards against TCU.
Colorado also didn’t have any sacks. The Nebraska offensive line did allow Jeff Sims to get sacked three times and the Nebraska quarterback also had a lot of pressure in his face in the second half.
Yet, Sims ran the ball 12 times for over 100 yards last week. Nebraska needs to have probably 200 yards or more on the ground if they are going to pull an upset and I think they’ll get there with 200 yards rushing yards or more.
2. Shedeur Sanders is contained, somewhat
A huge key for the Huskers will be finding a way to slow down Shedeur Sanders. If he throws for over 500 yards and 3-4 touchdowns on Saturday, Nebraska football isn’t going to win the game.
Travis Hunter is spectacular and the Huskers will have to try and keep him in check too. We’ll see if he can play as many plays as he did last week. If he does, and he catches quite a few passes, the Huskers at least need to make him pay as much as possible.
They also need to pressure Sanders, who was sacked four times last week. Ty Robinson had five pressures last week but will have to miss the first half for Nebraska.
However, if the Huskers are close, he’ll be a huge asset in the third quarter. And after the Colorado offensive line struggled last week, it’s fair to assume the Nebraska D-line can get into the backfield.
That will help limit Sanders to around 300 yards passing instead of 500. Nebraska’s expected ball-control offense should help too.
3. Jeff Sims will avoid turnovers
The former Georgia Tech transfer was blamed for the Nebraska football loss to Minnesota due to three interceptions including one that set up the game-winning field goal for the Gophers.
However, Sims ran for over 100 yards and if the team had been able to execute in the red zone, the Huskers would be 1-0. Some Nebraska football fans have lost faith in Sims but it’s still early and looking back at his career, he’s bounced back before from similar situations.
At Georgia Tech, he had one game with three interceptions. He actually threw four against Syracuse. The next week, he didn’t have any interceptions and three touchdowns.
Hopefully, he can have a similar game. One interception might not surprise me, because Travis Hunter is insane, but I bet Sims bounces back with 200 yards passing and a touchdown, at least.
Nebraska vs. Colorado score prediction
A few weeks ago, Nebraska football was the favorite to win this game, by as many as 7.5 points according to DraftKings.
Now, the Buffaloes are a three-point favorite. The line has changed dramatically and so has the opinion of Colorado. Prime’s team looks like the real deal and while I think Nebraska will acquit itself well, I just won’t believe this program can win a big game until it happens.
The Huskers have lost 19 games in a row against ranked teams. They get close but don’t end the streak on Saturday in Boulder.
Colorado 30, Nebraska 27