BOULDER, Colo. – Season-opening college football games can often drive coaches crazy even when their teams win by reasonably comfortable margins, and such was the case this week for Nebraska's Scott Frost and Colorado's Mel Tucker. The 25th-ranked Cornhuskers hope to avenge last year's painful season-opening loss to the Buffaloes on Saturday when they visit Colorado in a battle of former Big 12 arch-rivals.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Nebraska -3.5.
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Nebraska entered the second year of the Frost era with huge expectations thanks to potential Heisman Trophy candidate Adrian Martinez, but the Cornhuskers were held to 276 yards and instead had to rely on three non-offensive touchdowns in last week's 35-21 win over South Alabama. "That's as anemic an offensive effort I've been a part of in a long time. That's not the offense I've been seeing all fall camp. We have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what happened," Frost said. Although his team created four turnovers in his Colorado coaching debut, Tucker was similarly displeased with his defense in his team's 52-31 victory over Colorado State after giving up 505 yards of total offense to the Rams in the highest-scoring contest between the teams in the rivalry's 91-game history. "This is a starting point. I'm looking forward to getting this film watched and getting these corrections. … The yardage and some of the plays we gave up, I'm not happy about that," Tucker told reporters.
ABOUT NEBRASKA (1-0)
The Cornhuskers' defense forced five turnovers and combined with the special teams to score three times in the first 15-plus minutes of the second half, including a 38-yard interception return from Eric Lee Jr, a 76-yard punt return by JD Spielman and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Alex Davis. Frost and offensive coordinator Troy Walters took the blame for taking too much of the offensive playbook into the opener and put their focus into cutting down the volume of plays they will use against Colorado. Maurice Washington gave an otherwise lifeless rushing attack a boost when he saw his first playing time in the second half and gained 39 of the team's 98 rushing yards despite recording only six of the Nebraska's 44 rushing attempts.
ABOUT COLORADO (1-0)
Sophomore Alex Fontenot carried 19 times for 125 yards and three TDs against Colorado State, becoming only the fourth running back in school history to score at least three touchdowns in his first start. Laviska Shenault Jr. figures to be the primary focus of the Cornhuskers' defense after he erupted for 177 yards receiving and a TD on 10 catches against them last season - one of five games in which he managed at least 10 receptions and 100 yards in 2018. "It's 'Where's Waldo,' right? You've got to know where that cat's at. And just because you know where he's at doesn't mean you know what's going to go on. But you always have to understand where he's at," Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander told the Lincoln Star-Journal on Tuesday.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Nebraska outgained the Buffaloes 565-395 last season, but three turnovers and 11 penalties - including a late personal foul on third-and-24 with about a minute remaining - led to Shenault's 40-yard TD catch on the next play led to Colorado's 33-28 victory.
2. The Buffaloes did not commit a turnover or allow a sack versus the Rams, marking only the 19th time in school history they achieved both in the same game.
3. The Cornhuskers scored three non-offensive touchdowns in the same game for the first time since 2005.
PREDICTION: Nebraska 38, Colorado 34