LINCOLN -- For a second there, Memorial Stadium achieved an effect even cooler than the swaying stands at Texas A&M or the jouncing upper deck at Wisconsin during "Jump Around."
Halfway through Nebraska's Saturday night light and drone show -- which occurs between the third and fourth quarters -- the engineers achieved the feel of a spinning amusement ride slowing down to a stop before igniting again in noise and red light with the words "No Place Like Nebraska" on the HuskerVision screens.
NU led Colorado 28-3 at that moment. CU coach Deion Sanders -- the fun guy, the hype master, the ex-NFL star who's all over your Saturday afternoon TV with commercials -- stood away from his team during the light show, looking down -- not in a rude way, simply, seemingly alone in his thoughts.
Later, Sanders would literally take off his Buffs cap in a press conference and give Nebraska its due.
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"They just had our number today," Sanders said. "Just simple as that. Sometimes you've got to take your hat off and say 'hey you got me, man.' You got it. They did that. They played a great game. They really did."
His team -- including son and star quarterback Shedeur Sanders -- had been pushed and shoved all over the field by a bigger, more physical and, for at least that night, cooler football program.
Beyond the beating NU gave, and some of the mistakes NU made, was a team pouncing and roaring and dancing when it made big plays, led by a quarterback whose aura, as the kids say, practically drips from his look.
Coach Matt Rhule undergirds the swagger with a culture of hardcore work -- "we practice really hard and our guys work their butts off," Rhule said Saturday night -- the program is also showcasing, well, fun. It looks wicked fun to play on Nebraska's defense, which rotates waves of defensive linemen, all of whom seem to have a good pass rushing move.
"Nebraska's got a great D-line," Shedeur Sanders said. "Simply, that's what it was."
With quarterback Dylan Raiola -- who likely looked at game tape and saw a few missed opportunities -- the offense has the potential for fun.
Saturday night's scene? Rhule called it electric. I'd call it hungry; a fan base on verge of perhaps forgetting what excellence used to look like and raging hard to recapture a fading memory.
Poll voters are willing to believe Nebraska can. So is national press that shared video of the light show all over social media.
"This is incredible," ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said on X.
The sport's glitterati like Rhule, whose humble, ham-and-egg beginnings as a coach -- at schools you didn't know existed (Albright College) or, if you did, couldn't find on a map (Western Carolina) -- mark him as a grinder's grinder. Rhule has almost unprecedented latitude to shape the program as he sees fit and almost universal buy-in from former players and coaches who've spent enough years being tepid toward whoever manned the main spot.
NU's roster is the right blend of old and young, fed up and wide-eyed, knowing much pain and not knowing what they don't know. It's the right blend; Nebraska volleyball had it last year. Husker volleyball had more talent than anybody, too; NU football does not, and will have to box its way to bigger goals.
Can the Huskers handle house money -- the momentum that comes with widespread belief?
"Correct the correctables," Rhule said of the task ahead.
That question looms. Recent Husker teams -- like, two decades of them -- have not capitalized. The '06, '09 and '10 teams were perhaps the best in their league but kept dropping unnecessary games. Bo Pelini's best offense still handed out turnovers like a tilted slot machine. In 2020, Nebraska beat Penn State -- a nice win in an empty stadium -- and proceeded to lose one week later to a bad Illinois team.
This is the history that rattles around in the attic even when the living room is filled with partygoers.
You want the nuts and bolts through two games?
NU's defensive line is indeed ferocious and athletic, skilled with bull rushes and post-snaps twists. The secondary is game and almost always in position -- susceptible to getting beat deep, but skilled around the ball.
The Huskers' offense spent the offseason developing a pass and run game that can attack the edges, which is good -- you can't jam the ball down every defense's throat -- but the perimeter guys have to reel in their arms and grabbing hands a bit. Raiola senses pressure well for a young guy, and two defenses haven't caught up to the pass of his best passes. Special teams is erratic, and may not be good for a field goal longer than 30 yards or a clean day of punting.
"Learning how to finish," Rhule said of the item atop NU's to-do list. "We still haven't solved the close game thing because we haven't been in that. I think a lot of people thought this'd be a close game. I'll be honest with you: We expected this score."
Few teams have that line or coordinator Tony White's scheme. Many have the rest of Nebraska's on-field profile. Off the field, programs like Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and even Missouri have taken recent turns as the media darling.
The ride had been stopped for so, so long around these parts. It's starting again.
After beating Colorado and humbling both Deion and Shedeur Sanders, Nebraska's bandwagon just added an extra bench and may be ripe for a spin. How the Huskers handle prosperity between a pleasant season, and a spectacular one.
On with the Rewind.
I See You
Defensive linemen Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher, Jimari Butler, MJ Sherman, Princewill Umanmielen, James Williams, Kai Wallin, Elijah Jeudy, Cam Lenhardt and Willis McGahee IV: Helped notch six sacks and, according to Pro Football Focus, 17 hurries. A hellacious night of harassing Sanders, who made few plays outside the pocket.
Linebackers John Bullock and Mikai Gbayor: Nebraska's d-line was indeed terrific, but Gbayor and Bullock played edgy, violent football behind them. Especially on those fourth downs -- Gbayor got one stop, while Bullock got the other.
Cornerback Tommi Hill: Made Sanders pay for his one big passing mistake. Teams that score defensive touchdowns rarely lose.
Running back Rahmir Johnson: He made the play of the night on that 18-yard bobble-catch-and-run for a touchdown. Johnson called it a "miracle." After six years a lot of injuries at NU, it'd at least be fair to call it a break Johnson earned.
Running back Dante Dowdell: He's a rude awakening for defenses tackling him for the first time. The leap he did for his second touchdown was unnecessary and nearly led to a fumble.
Wideout Jacory Barney: He's close to having one of those 100-yard all-purpose games. Just as soon as NU teammates stop committing penalties on his plays.
Punt returner Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda: Getting it done in the punt return game where Nebraska appears to be at least a threat of breaking a play.
Cornerback Ceyair Wright: Nice tackle on one of CU's second half punt returns.
Quarterback Dylan Raiola: Avoided the interception, didn't take a bad sack, and scrambled for a key first down on Nebraska's opening touchdown drive. There's a good chance other teams will try to blitz him, though, after Saturday. Can NU's receivers make the strategy pay?
Colorado athlete Travis Hunter: He had 10 grabs for 110 yards on offense and played 66 quality snaps on defense.
Five Stats
36 minutes 56 seconds: Nebraska's average time of possession through two games, which leads the notoriously TOP-loving Big Ten. As NU enters league play -- in two weeks -- it is not likely to hold the ball for 37 minutes each game. But the Huskers haven't hesitated to pace themselves on drives. Nebraska has eight drives of four minutes or longer so far this season.
Five: Times that Nebraska has accumulated 100 yards in penalties since 2018. Two of those games occurred in 2018, the first year of the Scott Frost era, in losses to Purdue and Wisconsin. NU racked up more than 100 in 2020 during a 37-27 win over Purdue and in 2022 in a win over Indiana. Then, Saturday. The Huskers are tied for 96th nationally in penalties per game at 7.5.
23: Opponent rushing attempts per game, tied for second-lowest nationally. Northern Iowa may change that conversation -- check out the opponent watch -- but NU's run defense is consistently hard to figure out because White constantly moves his front seven defenders before and after the snap. The Huskers are allowing 36 rush yards per game -- fifth nationally -- and 1.57 yards per carry, which ranks sixth.
0: Plays of 40 yards or longer allowed by Nebraska's defense so far this season. NU has allowed just two plays of 30 yards or longer. In 2023, the Huskers allowed nine plays of 40 yards or longer and 16 plays of 30 yards or longer.
21: Points in the first quarter this season. Nebraska had 27 first quarter points in all of last season, so if the Huskers are able to score a touchdown on its opening drive against Northern Iowa, they will have surpassed their 2023 first quarter output. On the flip side, Nebraska and its 2024 opponents are tied, 10-10, in second half scoring. NU has been so dominant in first halves that its sense of urgency, on offense, hasn't been there yet.
Facebook Feedback
After each game, I ask fans on my Facebook page to provide feedback. Selected and edited responses follow.
Lyle Harmon: Maybe Rhule needs to have a Sunday practice to prove a point. He can't be happy with the lackadaisical play of the offense in the 2nd half. No killer instinct. And that may include the coaches.
Adam Sanders: Awesome game. A shame that the second half seemed to be more about the refs instead of how well the Huskers played tonight! It's been a long time since we hyped a game all week and then actually showed up and delivered!
Dennis Crawford: The defense dominated and there were no turnovers. The offense got a little sloppy in the second half but it was still a solid team performance. Rhule is proving once again that he is a turn around specialist.
Opponent Watch
>>Illinois, arriving Sept. 30, is no slouch after beating Kansas 23-17. The Illini bent a bit on defense, allowing 186 rushing yards, but picked off talented KU quarterback Jalon Daniels three times and a wowza game from receiver Zakhari Franklin, who had 38 touchdown receptions at UTSA.
>>We'll learn a lot about two of NU's opponents, UCLA and Indiana, when they play each other in the Rose Bowl next week. The Hoosiers humiliated Western Illinois 77-3. The Leathernecks are not good -- last week, they lost 54-15 to Northern Illinois -- but IU set a school scoring record. The Bruins had a bye week after their ugly win in Hawaii.
>>Northern Iowa is 2-0 after beating St. Thomas of Minnesota 17-10. In two wins, the Panthers have rushed for almost 600 total yards with Tye Edwards -- a 6-foot-4 230-pounder mauler -- doing most of the damage. Edwards is on his fourth school -- two JUCOs and UTSA -- and may be UNI's best player. Look out.
Forecast
A week spent in the sun of optimism -- and another Saturday night light show, too.
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