College Football Picks 9/7 – Colorado @ Nebraska

College Football Picks 9/7 – Colorado @ Nebraska

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

Week Two of the college football season brings us a battle of longtime rivals as the Colorado Buffaloes (1-0) of the Big 12 visit the Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-0) of the Big 10 tonight on NBC. Colorado and Nebraska first played each other in 1898 and became rivals in the Big 8/Big 12 conference for six decades. The schools would meet annually on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving on ABC beginning in 1996. Nebraska leaving the Big 12 and joining the Big Ten prior to the 2011 season ended the annual matchups. 

In 2013, Colorado and Nebraska agreed to play a four-game series that began in 2018. Tonight’s game is the fourth and final matchup of the series. Colorado has won all three games against Nebraska since the rivalry was renewed. Nebraska won 15 of 19 against Colorado prior the three straight losses. The Cornhuskers lead the all-time series 49-21-2. Nebraska is a 7.5 point favorite and the toal is 56.5.

In last year’s matchup, Colorado hammered visiting Nebraska 36-14 behind the strong efforts of quarterback Shedeur Sanders and wide receiver Xavier Weaver. Sanders completed 31 of 42 passes for 393 yards with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in the win. Weaver – now with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals – caught 10 passes for 170 and a touchdown. Colorado’s defense forced four turnovers – 3 fumbles and an interception – off Nebraska’s starting quarterback Jeff Sims. Sims is now at Arizona State.

College Football Picks 9/7 – Colorado @ Nebraska

Colorado held of FCS power North Dakota State, 31-26 in their season opener at home on Aug. 29. Much like last season, Colorado relied on its high-powered passing attack – led by Shedeur Sanders – to get the win. The dynamic Sanders completed 26 of 34 passes for 445 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. It was the second-highest passing total of his Colorado career. Senior wideout Jimmy Horn Jr. also had a monster game hauling in seven catches for a career-high 193 yards and a touchdown. Two-way superstar Travis Hunter caught seven passes for 132 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

Nebraska pummeled UTEP 40-7 in their season opener at home last Saturday behind a magnificent debut from true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola. The highly touted, five-star quarterback Raiola completed 19 of 27 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns in the rout. Senior wideout Isaiah Neyor had seven receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown in his debut for Nebraska. Raiola and Neyor connected on a 59-yard score in the second quarter. 

GAME STORYLINES: COLORADO

On December 3, 2022 the Colorado Buffaloes made headlines when they hired NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders aka “Coach Prime” as its head coach. Sanders was coming off back-to-back SWAC Championships at Jackson State and compiled a 22-3 record over his last 2 seasons there. Coach Prime’s brashness and winning ways generated enormous hype and anticipation for Colorado football.

The hype and aura surrounding Coach Prime seemed justified initially when Colorado opened the 2023 season with a 45-42 upset win at No. 17 TCU and started 3-0. But things unraveled quickly after the 3-0 start as Colorado lost 8 of their last 9 games to finish the year 4-8. Despite the poor finish, Coach Prime took the program from 1 win in 2022 to 4 wins last year. He’s also increased Colorado’s popularity, diversity and enrollment exponentially since he arrvied on campus in December 2022.

Despite the disappointing end to the 2023 season and the uneven play of the Colorado’s offensive and defenisve lines, Colorado recieved standout seasons from quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way phenom WR/DB Travis Hunter. Sanders had no problems making the transition from the SWAC to the Pac 12 last season. His Colorado career got off to a splendid start as he threw for a program-record 510 yards in his Colorado debut – a 45-42 shootout win at TCU. The prolific senior QB finished the year passing for 3,230 yards with 27 touchdowns to 3 interceptions.

College Football Picks 9/7 – Colorado @ Nebraska

Travis Hunter shocked the college football world when he spurned offers from BCS powers and signed with Jackson State to play for Coach Prime in December 2021. Hunter was one of the top high school seniors in the Class of 2022. Hunter has exceeded the hype as he’s been All-Conference at Jackson State and Colorado, and plays nearly every snap in games on offense at wideout and defense at cornerback. He will certaintly be one of top picks in the 2025 NFL draft as a wideout or defensive back. 

Coach Prime hired fellow NFL Hall of Famer Warren Sapp as a senior quality control assistant to coach the defensive line. Colorado’s defensive line did a poor job generating pressure on quarterbacks last season and had a difficult time with North Dakota State’s elusive quarterback Cam Miller in Week One. A lot of people will expect immediate improvement from the defensive line under Sapp because of how great he was in college and the NFL. Sapp amassed 96.5 sacks in 13 NFL seasons.

Defensive tackle transfer Chidozie Nwankwo is expected to provide a boost to Colorado’s underwhelming defensive line. He started 33 of 40 games for the University of Houston over the last 4 seasons. He collected one of Colorado’s 2 sacks in last week’s win against North Dakota State. 

Hard-hitting senior safety Shilo Sanders – Coach Prime’s middle son – is expected to be a standout on the defense. His 9 tackles last week was second on the team. Sanders is coming off a great 2023 season where he finished with 67 tackles, 4 forced fumbles and a pick-six.

GAME STORYLINES: NEBRASKA

For 25 years, legendary head coach Tom Osbourne guided Nebraska to a 255-49-3 record and three National  Championships. All 25 of his teams won at least 9 games and he led the Cornhuskers to back-to-back National Titles in 1994 and 1995. Osbourne’s last 5 Nebraska teams combined to go 60-3. Since Osbourne’s retirement following the 1997 season, Nebraska has become somewhat irrelevant in college football. They’ve experienced 7 straight losing seasons entering the 2024 campaign.

Nebraska hired Matt Ruhle in November 2022 and gave him an 8-year, $74 million contract. Ruhle came to Lincoln with impressive credentials after leading quick turnarounds of moribund programs Temple and Baylor. He also had a brief NFL head coaching stint with the Carolina Panthers from 2020-2022. Ruhle has the reputation of being an offensive guru and is expected to turn Nebraska into an explosive offense. He finished with a 5-7 record last year in his first season at the helm. The 5 wins was the most for Nebraska since the 2019 season.

It didn’t take long for Matt Ruhle to make a big splash at Nebraska as he got 5-star quarterback and the near-consensus No. 1 player in the class of 2024 Dylan Raiola to flip his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska in December 2023. Raiola’s father, Dominic, played for Nebraska in the late 1990’s before going on to a 14-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions. 

College Football Picks 9/7 – Colorado @ Nebraska

The 5-star true freshman Dylan Raiola beat out incumbent Heinrich Haarberg for the starting quarterback position and shined in his debut against UTEP last week. Raiola became the first true freshman to start in a game for Nebraska since 1943.

Nebraska is expecting big years from a pair of transfer wide receivers in seniors Isaiah Neyor (6 catches for 121 yards, 1 TD last week) and Jahmal Banks (6 catches for 61 yards, 1 TD last week). Neyor had stints at Wyoming and Texas prior to arriving at Nebraska. He was an All-Mountain West player at Wyoming before transferring to Texas, where injuries limited his playing time. Banks comes in from Wake Forest where he led the team with 653 yards last season. 

On defense, defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher and defensive back Tommi Hill are two standouts. Hutmacher registered 40 tackles and 4.5 sacks last season for the Huskers. He also joined Nebraska’s wrestling team after the 2023 football season concluded. Hill lined up at wide receiver early last year before playing defensive back full time as the season wore on. He had 26 tackles and 4 interceptions last year. 

THE PICK: COLORADO (+7.5)

I still need to see more from the highly touted true freshman Dylan Raiola before I can trust him to cover a somewhat big number at home against a quality team. Despite the inconsistency of Colorado’s defense last week, I think their high-powered offense will at least keep them within the number…Nebraska 30, Colorado 28