Greg McElroy, Brady Quinn debate what’s at stake in Colorado-Nebraska game
On Saturday, Nebraska and Colorado will meet in a Week 2 showdown. Ahead of the game, ESPN’s Greg McElroy and FOX Sports’ Brady Quinn weighed in on which team needs the win more.
“It’s still Colorado because, after watching Week 1, my biggest takeaway was I didn’t really see any differences in this Colorado team from what we saw a year ago,” Quinn said. “They still don’t run the football, their defense can’t stop anyone and it feels like from a coaching standpoint, you look at the end of game — the clock management toward the end — they gave them an opportunity to come back in that game.
“That might not come back to bite you when you’re playing North Dakota State, but it could when you’re playing Nebraska and you have a quarterback like Dylan Raiola, who I think is very capable of making some plays, as we saw, at least from the small sample size of Week 1. So I think it’s more it’s a bigger moment for Colorado to prove the progress they’ve made at this point.”
Despite several standout individual performances in Week 1, Colorado certainly didn’t look infallible. The Buffaloes’ defense gave up 449 total yards, allowing NDSU quarterback Cam Miller to complete 18-of-his-22 pass attempts.
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To pile on, Colorado struggled to finish the game. Instead of running out the clock with less than two minutes left, CU head coach Deion Sanders continued to look for deep balls down the field. Colorado has plenty to prove in Week 2.
In comparison, Nebraska handily defeated UTEP 40-7 in Week 1. In the win, the Cornhuskers’ defense allowed a mere 205 yards and squeezed two turnovers out of the Miners. McElroy believes the Week 2 meeting will be pivotal for the rest of both teams’ respective seasons.
Pressure building for both sides
“If Colorado wins this one, the hype train is going to be out of control, back to where we were a year ago. “It’s going to be, ‘Oh my goodness, cancel the season. Deion’s Coach of the Year next,’” McElroy said. “But on the other side, I think this game means so much to Matt Rhule.
“People that support Deion are gonna support Deion regardless. But for Matt Rhule to prove that, ‘Hey, we can now play.’ You saw the gap that existed between Nebraska and Colorado last year was considerable, especially in the second half. Now, it’s like, ‘This is real progress that’s being made, and maybe we can win a bunch of games this year that you don’t anticipate.’”
In the 2023 campaign, Nebraska came up short against the Buffaloes, falling in blowout 36-14 fashion. Rhule is hungry for revenge and has called on Nebraska fans to pack Memorial Stadium for the rematch. Nonetheless, it’s safe to assume Colorado won’t back down.
The two teams will clash on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on NBC.
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