Lopsided loss to Nebraska a painful reminder of Colorado’s struggles in trenches

Deion Sanders is used to doing what’s considered conventionally impossible.

Play in the NFL and MLB on the same day? Sure, he can do that. Become the greatest cornerback of all time? Done. Win as a head coach with zero college or even high school head coaching experience? Yep. Did that at Jackson State.

But he can’t challenge every convention. He’s finding that out at Colorado, where, despite an incredible quarterback and bevy of skill talent, the Buffaloes continue to come up short. The latest example being a 28-10 loss to Nebraska.

The biggest reason why? The Buffaloes are just not good enough up front.

Colorado’s offensive line has been under the microscope since the moment Sanders showed up on Colorado’s campus. The unit is often a verbal punching bag, even for the head coach, who frequently watches his son, the star quarterback, take hit after hit.

It happened again against the Huskers.

Nebraska had four sacks by halftime and finished its win over the Buffs with six sacks (plus 10 tackles for loss) in a dominating trench effort. The Buffaloes averaged 0.7 yards per rush. It wasn’t any better on defense for Colorado, where the Huskers averaged 4.3 yards per carry and kept true freshman QB Dylan Raiola clean without allowing a sack. 

It wouldn’t matter if Shedeur Sanders turned into an airbender (they literally can float in the air), you can’t be consistently successful at that position without quality blocking in front of you. Nebraska, a defense that gets very creative while sending pressure, made Shedeur’s life miserable.

There were clues this might happen in Week 1 against North Dakota State. The Buffaloes put up 445 passing yards, yes. But they only managed 2.6 yards per carry against an FCS team. And while Sanders was only sacked once, he was pressured on seven drop backs.

Those struggles aren’t surprising, mind you. 

Colorado is trying to challenge the norm by trotting out five new offensive linemen this season and expecting immediate cohesion. The best lines tend to have multiple starts together to learn how to flow and communicate. Colorado put everyone together in the spring and hoped everything would click quickly. 

That formula rarely, if ever, works in college football. And nobody has taken it to the extreme like Deion Sanders, who’s signed 50-plus new players each of the previous two offseasons.

Not everything can be blamed on Colorado’s shortcomings along the lines of scrimmage. Colorado turned the ball over more than Nebraska, struggled in the red zone and racked up penalties. Shedeur Sanders, an excellent QB, is also not blameless It takes him nearly three seconds to throw the ball every time he drops back; 24th slowest in the FBS last season among players who took 50% of their team’s drop backs.

But really Colorado’s issues Saturday are easy to explain: it got bullied up front by a team with much more continuity. This is despite Matt Rhule and Deion Sanders taking their jobs at the same time in the 2023 offseason.

Deion Sanders ignores the norm and creates his own in so many aspects of life. But there’s no changing the fact that the team wins in the trenches tends to win in football.