{"id":50290,"date":"2023-09-08T17:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T21:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=50290"},"modified":"2023-09-07T22:20:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T02:20:48","slug":"what-nebraska-can-do-to-stop-the-colorado-buffaloes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/09\/08\/what-nebraska-can-do-to-stop-the-colorado-buffaloes\/","title":{"rendered":"What Nebraska Can Do to Stop the Colorado Buffaloes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the Colorado Buffaloes win against 17th ranked TCU, head coach<strong> Deion Sanders<\/strong> has gotten off to a hot start. But can <strong>Matt Rhule<\/strong> find a way to halt that progress next week? Let&#8217;s break it down.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud835\udc16\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc24 \ud835\udfd0<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcc5 9.9<br \/>\n\ud83d\udccd Boulder, CO<br \/>\n\ud83d\udd56 11 AM CDT<br \/>\n\ud83d\udcfa FOX <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GBR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GBR<\/a> x <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WhatsNExt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WhatsNExt<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HahZLyKOmk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/HahZLyKOmk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HuskerFootball\/status\/1698821632200995277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 4, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Cover Travis Hunter And The Colorado Buffaloes Wide Receivers<\/h3>\n<p>Under Deion Sanders&#8217;s tutelage at Jackson State, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/travis-hunter-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Travis Hunter<\/a> became an impact two-way player in the SWAC Conference.\u00a0 He finished the regular season with 188 yards and four touchdowns. Furthermore, he was also an asset on the defensive side of the ball for Jackson State. He totaled 20 tackles, 10 pass breakups and two interceptions. And his first time in a Colorado Buffaloes uniform was no different. On offense, he finished with 11 receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown, while nabbing a diving interception on defense. This versatility presents a huge problem to the Cornhuskers&#8217; defense because he can be explosive at any time. But they might be able to put a handle on him.\u00a0 As the starting defensive backs against Minnesota, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/malcolm-hartzog-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malcolm Hartzog <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/omar-brown-3.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omar Brown<\/a> were extremely effective in limiting what Gophers quarterback<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/athan-kaliakmanis-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Athan Kaliakmanis<\/a> could do with the football. Can they make CU&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/shedeur-sanders-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shedeur Sanders<\/a> uncomfortable outside the pocket and disrupt Hunter and the other skill players? We&#8217;ll find out very soon on Saturday.<\/p>\n<h3>Limit The Talent of Dylan Edwards<\/h3>\n<p>Against Minnesota, <strong>Tony White&#8217;s<\/strong> defense completely shut down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/sean-tyler-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sean Tyler<\/a> by limiting him to 26 yards on 12 carries. But\u00a0 Colorado running back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/dylan-edwards-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dylan Edwards,<\/a> might prove to be a tougher challenge for the defense.\u00a0 He had a chance to show off his explosiveness in the short passing game when he caught two touchdowns against TCU in the opener. These were off of good throws in the end zone by Sanders. But he wasn&#8217;t done attacking TCU just yet. In the ground game, the former 4-star prospect showed off his home run ability when he scampered for a 75-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. These plays present a huge challenge for the Cornhuskers, but there is a good recipe to stop him in his tracks.\u00a0 It just will require a sizeable step up from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/nash-hutmacher-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nash Hutmacher<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/blaise-gunnerson-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blaise Gunnerson<\/a> to outmaneuver Colorado&#8217;s offensive lineman.\u00a0 \u00a0Plus, NU has an extra rusher from the cornerback position. It was known that <strong>DeShon Singleton<\/strong> impressed in his first game as a Husker with seven tackles. This means that he should be one of the main contributors when it comes to\u00a0 Nebraska&#8217;s plans in defending against the Colorado Buffaloes rushing attack.<\/p>\n<h3>Use The Power Of Gabe Ervin<\/h3>\n<p>In their matchup against the Horned Frogs, Colorado&#8217;s defense under <strong>Charles Kelly<\/strong> struggled mightily when the defensive line gave up 262 total rushing yards to TCU&#8217;s <strong>Emani Bailey<\/strong>. Because of this letdown,\u00a0 Nebraska needs to get creative with its offensive linemen to methodically wear down Colorado&#8217;s defensive lineman in the run game. And there is no question that offensive coordinator <strong>Marcus Satterfield<\/strong> has to feature <strong>Gabe Ervin&#8217;s<\/strong> skills. Not only did he weave in and out of tackles every time he got the ball, he gashed Minnesota&#8217;s defense by running hard.\u00a0 \u00a0And it proved to be an effective formula, as he helped the Huskers gain positive momentum on drives. But it won&#8217;t happen without the blocking skills of the whole offense. Even though they didn&#8217;t have as many targets last week against the Golden Gophers,\u00a0 players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/nate-boerkircher-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nate Boerkircher<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/thomas-fidone-ii-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas Fidone<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/billy-kemp-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Billy Kemp<\/a> will have to step up and forcefully create holes for the running back to run through against the Colorado Buffaloes. The only concern is if they are up to the challenge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-50591\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Colorado Buffaloes\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/USATSI_21318419_168400536_lowres.jpg 1369w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy: \u00a0Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Colorado Buffaloes win against 17th ranked TCU, head coach Deion Sanders has gotten off to a hot start. But can Matt Rhule find a way to halt that progress next week? Let&#8217;s break it down. \ud835\udc16\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc24 \ud835\udfd0 \ud83d\udcc5 9.9 \ud83d\udccd Boulder, CO \ud83d\udd56 11 AM CDT \ud83d\udcfa FOX #GBR x #WhatsNExt! pic.twitter.com\/HahZLyKOmk \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4440,"featured_media":50591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[7983,7003,10442,10597,9882,8000,351,511,10568,9817],"class_list":["post-50290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-fbs","tag-big-ten-football","tag-deion-sanders","tag-deshon-singleton","tag-emani-bailey","tag-gabe-ervin","tag-marcus-satterfield","tag-matt-rhule","tag-nebraska-cornhuskers","tag-omar-brown","tag-tony-white"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}