3 reasons Nebraska football will beat Colorado

The first big test of the 2024 Nebraska football season comes Saturday against Colorado, a former Big 8/Big 12 rival.

Nebraska and Colorado don’t play every year anymore and with Matt Rhule saying he doesn’t want Nebraska playing a super challenging non-conference schedule, who knows it will happen in the future.

It will be nice to get some bragging rights. Nebraska hasn’t beaten Colorado since it joined the Big Ten. The Buffaloes have won three in a row, including last year’s 36-14 win. The game was closer than the score indicates but turnovers, special teams gaffes, and terrible QB play doomed the Huskers.

That won’t be the case this time around and here are three reasons why Nebraska football will prevail against Colorado on Saturday night.

Buffs don’t have the QB advantage anymore

Last year, the difference between Shedeur Sanders and Jeff Sims might as well have been the Grand Canyon. Sanders converted nine third downs, while Sims could barely take the snap.

That might sound like an over-exaggeration, but sadly, every Nebraska football fan knows it’s not.

I’m not saying that Dylan Raiola is equal to Sanders after one career start. But he’s not your normal freshman quarterback. Raiola will be a top-10 pick just as surely as Sanders will be.

But for Nebraska, Raiola means not having to overcome a huge disadvantage at quarterback. That levels the playing field and frankly, I think Nebraska has the better team.

I thought that last year too, but with Sims and the other QBs, it just didn’t come to fruition.

This time around, it will.

Nebraska is better in the trenches

Colorado did well enough in pass protection last week, but there is a huge difference between an FCS defensive line and Nebraska’s.

The pass rush caused problems for Sanders last season and this season, it’s better. The defensive line is deeper but all the front-line players are back and even better.

I’m not sure if any team will rush for 100 yards on the Huskers this season. At some point, someone will break a long run and do it, but running up the middle is like ramming into a brick wall.

The offensive line also played very well last week. Colorado has some nice pieces on defense, but Turner Corcoran was my main concern and he played well. The entire front did. They didn’t have penalties and allowed just one sack.

Quarterbacks and line play decide most games. The first category is a push in my opinion, but Nebraska should have the advantage in the trenches — an advantage I don’t know if Colorado can overcome.

The Huskers will run the ball

Maybe Colorado can run the ball for 50 yards and win this game. But if Nebraska runs for 150-200, that’s going to be a tall order.

Raiola isn’t going to give the ball away willy-nilly. Maybe the Colorado defensive will trick him with a disguise in coverage or maybe Travis Hunter makes an all-world play, but I have a hard time seeing Raiola turn the ball over more than once, if that, on Saturday.

Assuming that, if Nebraska can pound the rock, Sanders might be on the sideline for 60 percent of the game. The Huskers ran over 80 plays last week while UTEP had just over 40.

That’s by design but you have to be able to pound the rock to do it. If Nebraska can run the ball as well as it did last week, Raiola will eat Colorado alive with the play-action pass all while Sanders is standing next to his Dad.

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