Initial observations from the CU Buffs’ 36-14 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in head coach Deion Sanders’ home debut at Folsom Field.
Bright and early: Over/under on hours of sleep for the CU student section? We’re putting that at roughly 0.5 hours — and taking the under. Hundreds swarmed the bleachers the first moment they could at 8 a.m., and they were … in … a … lather. Nebraska got a dose of it as soon as the Huskers stepped foot on the field to huddle on the Buffs’ logo — the jeers starting before most folks on the Front Range had even finished their morning coffee. As for that Big Red invasion? That’s so 2019. An unofficial count from these eyes: 70-30 in the Buffs’ favor. And anyone who was here four years ago knows that’s quite the swing.
Sloppy, sloppy: It took the Buffs approximately a quarter and a half before they drew their first penalty in last weekend’s upset at TCU. On Saturday? They had three flags on their first offensive drive — and it probably cost them points. Shedeur Sanders erased the worst of them — offensive tackle Savion Washington’s unsportsmanlike penalty — with a brilliant across-the-field throw worthy of Sundays. But you can only give away so many yards before it comes back to haunt you. (Well, against good teams, anyway.) The scoreboard may say that CU won, but Coach Prime has some things (nine penalties, 80 yards) to clean up between now and Oregon in two weeks.
Getting defensive: The Huskers did everything they could to gift-wrap this one. Heck, they could barely even snap the ball (three were fumbled). But it wasn’t until DB Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig’s second-quarter pick of Jeff Sims at the Husker 30 that CU capitalized. Yes, just as we suspected, the Buffs took charge with their defense. How much of that can be credited to CU, given NU’s slew of errors (the Huskers also doinked a field goal and fumbled a hand-off)? There’s something to be said for being in the right place at the right time. Sims’ 57-yard TD run aside, the Buffs, fresh off giving up 42 points at TCU, did that again and again (six tackles for loss, four turnovers and countless big hits).
Shedeur’s world: It appears to be this simple with Shedeur Sanders: Give the CU quarterback time, and he will bury you. Numerous times, the Buffs put themselves in bad positions with penalties and negative plays. Numerous times, Sanders (31 of 42, 393 yards, two TDs) bailed them out with exquisite third-and-long throws — including on the fourth-quarter touchdown drive that ended with Tar’Varish Dawson waltzing into the end zone. That, of course, was followed by the most amazing unsuccessful two-point conversion you’ll ever see (we say Anthony Hankerson caught it, because Sanders’ effort deserved two points). Fire up the Shedeur Heisman Hype Machine. If it wasn’t apparent after last week’s display at TCU, this guy’s the real deal.
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