Tad Stryker: Blackshirts Pack a Punch

Nebraska bolts to a 28-0 halftime lead on the way to suffocating the high-powered Colorado offense

Tommi Hill (6) celebrates in the end zone after his pick-six. / Amarillo Mullen

With one stupendous half of football, Nebraska had the Colorado Buffaloes dead on their feet and their coach’s future much in doubt.

As a packed and primed Memorial Stadium crowd roared with delight Saturday night, the Cornhusker defense attacked from every angle, holding a potent CU offense to 112 total yards and and no points at the halftime break and scored a touchdown on a Tommi Hill pick-six that will haunt Shedeur Sanders on film forever.

Nebraska’s defense won time after time at the line of scrimmage. It punched the Buffalo offense in the mouth on third-down plays and landed body blows seemingly at will.

Speaking of the Buff quarterback, as the first half unfolded and the decibel level climbed, you could feel his Heisman stock receding by the minute and his father and coach, Deion, adding new names to his “no interviews” list as his credibility in the Denver media started to crater.

Quarterback Sanders appeared discombobulated early by the crowd noise and got off to a shaky start, completing just three of seven passes in the first quarter, spending much of the time deep in his own territory. For the game, he completed 23 of 38 passes for 244 yards for a rather pedestrian 6.4 yards per pass, with one interception and one touchdown.

Nebraska sacked the highly touted Buff quarterback six times for 41 yards in losses, made him look silly with a pick-six, and eventually forced him out of the game in the fourth quarter. If an injury, it was not announced after the contest.

It was a bad night all around for the Sanders family. Older brother Shilo Sanders, a defensive back, was mocked by the NU student section for his much-publicized bankruptcy case, then broke his arm in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game.

Nebraska's Tommi Hill stops Colorado's Shedeur Sanders' rush after three yards. / Amarillo Mullen

The Buffs’ offensive line, patched together with a lick and a prayer and transfer portal arrivals, didn’t hold up. That’s not going to play well along the Front Range.

Travis Hunter, the multi-talented All-America candidate and likely first-round NFL draft pick, didn’t pack much of a punch on this night. The two-way threat at defensive back and wide receiver got his stats, catching 10 passes, but he didn’t score and wasn’t able to explode. He averaged just 11 yards per catch.

In a game billed as a measuring stick for the Nebraska program, the Huskers won the battle for relevance over their former annual Big 12 Black Friday opponent. The Huskers have a lot of work to do on offense and special teams, but they have a defense that will make them a threat in every game they play this fall.

Earlier in the week, Matt Rhule showed his team highlights from Omaha native Terrence “Bud” Crawford’s magnificent welterweight championship manhandling of previously unbeaten Errol Spence in 2023. It seemed to have an effect. The Huskers came out swinging and landed most of their early blows, mainly on defense. The Blackshirts made sure it would be a good night for College Football Hall of Fame honoree Frank Solich and 1994 national championship team members (who had their own pregame Tunnel Walk) plus all the football, basketball and volleyball recruits in the house in possibly the Huskers’ biggest recruiting night of the season.

Matt Rhule saluted the crowd’s energy and staying power, and his team for going plus-two in turnovers and playing physical football. He also predicted better things for Colorado.

“That’s a really good football team,” Rhule said. “They’ll make a ton of noise in the Big 12.”

Maybe. Then again, the Buffs just might fold at the next real sign of adversity, as they did last season. Deion doesn’t strike me as a stabilizing kind of guy.

NU senior defensive tackle Ty Robinson was destabilizing, all right. Robinson had a sack, blocked a field goal and helped wash away the bad taste of Nebraska’s turnover-plagued loss in Boulder last fall.

“I knew this year, I was going to make sure they knew who I was all 60 minutes,” Robinson said.

Sep 7, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders and Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule shake hands after the Cornhuskers' defeat the Buffaloes at Memorial Stadium. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The Blackshirts held Colorado to just 260 total yards for the game and got off the field time and again, holding the Buffs to 4-for-14 on third down conversions. They allowed just 16 rushing yards, the lowest total by a Husker opponent in four years. They rarely gave Shedeur Sanders a moment of peace, and were equal to the task all game long.

The Buffs looked ready to be processed and packaged at halftime. One good shot in the third quarter would have finished them off, but the Husker offense couldn’t land it. Instead, the o-line spent most of the second half demonstrating that it’s not ready for Big Ten defenses, at least not yet. And one of the biggest questions of the season is when Thomas Fidone will start to be a dependable part of the passing game.

With a crowd of 86,906 primed to celebrate a knockout, the Husker offense poured cold water on the festivities by spending the final 30 minutes in a clinch — an ugly, penalty-filled scrum. Missed blitz pickups on offense and a spotty kicking game (sophomore Tristan Alvano missed a 32-yard field goal try, Colorado blocked a punt and the Huskers allowed CU’s Jimmy Horn a 61-yard kickoff return) leave Nebraska plenty to work on before the conference season begins. On the bright side, Brian Buschini appears to have recovered his sophomore form. He averaged more than 50 yards on each punt he had time to deliver, and three punts ended up inside the 20, including one first-quarter beauty that rolled out of bounds at the CU 2.

With defensive coordinator Tony White’s stock rising each week, it gives Nebraska some time to work things out before tougher tests come down the pike.

---

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, following HuskerMax on X, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.