Player grades: Top-rated Huskers in win over Colorado

The Nebraska Cornhuskers turned in a dominant first half and coasted to a 28-10 win over the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

The defense was fantastic throughout, Nebraska’s offense was strong early but faded a bit late and special teams was a mixed bag, but the Huskers seemed to control the game from the first snap to the very end.

Individually, which Huskers had the best game? Here are the top-graded Cornhuskers from Week 2, according to Pro Football Focus (minimum of 10 snaps).

Offense

• WR Jacory Barney Jr. — 87.2
• WR Jaylen Lloyd — 79.6
• RB Rahmir Johnson — 78.2
• TE Nate Boerkircher — 70.1
• RB Dante Dowdell — 69.6
• QB Dylan Raiola — 68.3
• RG Henry Lutovsky — 67.0
• LT Turner Corcoran — 64.3
• RT Bryce Benhart — 63.4
• WR Jahmal Banks — 63.2

Barney and Lloyd didn’t get a ton of snaps but made plays in the limited action they had. Barney had six games for 29 yards and two carries for 28 yards while Lloyd had one catch for 36 yards.

The second half likely weighed down the grades for many of the starters as the offense stagnated after turning in a dominant first half.

Overall, it was a really nice performance by the who group, and the starting offensive line as a whole gave up just five pressures against Colorado, protecting their true freshman quarterback.

Related: Takeaways from Nebraska Cornhuskers’ 28-10 win over Colorado

Defense

• CB Tommi Hill — 83.4
• DT Ty Robinson — 72.4
• LB MJ Sherman — 69.3
• LB Mikai Gbayor — 69.2
• CB Marques Buford Jr. — 68.7
• S DeShon Singleton — 68.3
• DE James Williams — 67.5
• LB John Bullock — 66.7
• DE Cameron Lenhardt — 66.4
• DT Nash Hutmacher — 63.8

It was a dominant effort from the Blackshirts, who pressured Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders almost nonstop early in the game and surrendered only 260 yards of total offense while scoring on Hill’s pick-six.

Even though the Buffaloes had slightly more success in the second half, the unit still was extremely stingy and physical, playing even better than most of the above grades suggest.

The Huskers racked up 28 total pressures and six sacks throughout the game, tackled well and showed again that the defense is a serious strength for this team.

Related: Nebraska's Tommi Hill scores the easiest touchdown of his life thanks to Colorado's Shedeur Sanders