Takeaways from Nebraska Cornhuskers’ 28-10 win over Colorado

The Nebraska Cornhuskers came out strong and held on for a big 28-10 win over the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday night.

Related: Dominant defense helps Huskers to 28-0 halftime lead over Colorado

Nebraska showed again that it is much improved over last season, although more work remains to take that next step.

Here are a few takeaways from the Huskers' win on Saturday — their first over Colorado since 2010 and 50th in this long rivalry in 73 games.

Dowdell is RB1

Coming into Saturday’s game, head coach Matt Rhule said to expect a similar plan at running back as the opener, when Dante Dowdell, Rahmir Johnson, Emmett Johnson and Gabe Ervin Jr. were all listed as co-starters and Rahmir got 11 carries, Emmett and Dowdell got eight apiece and Ervin had six.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, like Rhule, has also made it clear that the Huskers want one or two guys to separate themselves from the rest rather than lean on four backs.

Even though Rahmir started at running back against Colorado, it’s clear that Dowdell is the lead back as long as he’s healthy and taking care of the ball.

Neither Ervin or Emmett even got a carry in the first half and Rahmir had only five while Dowdell toted the ball nine times and tallied a pair of touchdowns. Dowdell ended up with 17 carries while Rahmir had nine and Emmett and Ervin got only three carries combined.

Dowdell, the sophomore transfer from Oregon, has played physical, consistently fought forward for extra yardage and has averaged nearly six yards per carry through two weeks.

The other three backs, especially Rahmir, will continue to have a role but it’s clear the Huskers plan to lean on Dowdell until he gives them a reason not to.

Defense is a strength again

After ranking as one of the best defenses in the country last season, defensive coordinator Tony White has this unit buzzing again.

Even will a slightly less effective second half, the Blackshirts showed they are a huge strength for the Huskers again and last week's showing wasn't just because it was UTEP.

Excluding the game last season against Washington State, where he got hurt early, the Huskers held Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders to his second-fewest completions as a Buffalo, his fourth-lowest yardage total and only his third full game with just one total touchdown.

Overall, the Buffs mustered just 260 total yards against Nebraska's defense, including just 16 rushing yards. In addition to that stout run defense, the Huskers tackled well, generated near-constant pressure in the first half and covered pretty well.

If the offense can just keep progressing from what it has already shown, this defense will give Nebraska a chance to win a lot of games this year.

Special teams not yet solid

Nebraska’s offense and defense have both shown extended periods of great play through two weeks but special teams hasn’t really done the same.

Tristan Alvano missed a 32-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter, the kick coverage team gave up a 61-yard return and Nebraska’s return game has been just OK.

Fortunately, nothing has bitten them yet, and it should be noted that the punting unit has looked good (until they also had a punt blocked on Saturday). However, the other areas need to improve or could end up costing the Huskers down the line.

Growth still needed for Huskers

This isn’t surprising because it’s only the start of Year 2 under Rhule but, for as much hype and good play as we’ve seen already this year, there is clearly still room to improve.

Some of that needed growth is in discipline, managing emotions, understanding situations and finishing games.

The Huskers had three penalties for 25 yards in the first half, then three for 28 in the third quarter alone and five more for 42 in the fourth, many of those second-half flags coming at key times or wiping out big plays.

Yes, some of them were questionable calls and the targeting call was mostly just unfortunate, with Sanders sliding late, but to take the next step, Nebraska can’t blame everything on the officials. The team also clearly struggled more in the second half and failed to put the Buffaloes away.

The push up front and ground game dropped off drastically; Raiola and his receivers failed to connect on several plays and looked confused or on different pages on multiple others. Defensively, the constant pressure that was there in the first half died down later in the game and it allowed Colorado to find some rhythm offensively.