Overreactions to Colorado football's game vs Nebraska, including Deion Sanders' defense

It was the kind of game that requires some self-reflection.

A loss always stings, but a beatdown at the hands of your longtime rival gives new meaning to the phrase "Sunday scaries."

That's what Deion Sanders and the Colorado football team are feeling after losing to Nebraska 28-10 on Saturday night . The final score indicates a much more competitive game than the one that transpired.

Here are a few overreactions (or not) from the Buffs' first loss of the 2024 college football season:

Colorado's first-half struggles are real

Not an overreaction. Saturday night marked the second consecutive week where Colorado has put themselves in an early hole with a slow start. The Buffs were able to overcome a 20-14 first-half deficit in Week 1, but Nebraska is too talented to come out sleepwalking against.

Colorado began the game on offense and proceeded to have a screen pass deflected for an incompletion, a drop and a sack on their first three offensive plays. That opening series set the tone for the game. The next drive ended in a turnover on downs and the following drive is when it all began to unravel.

Setting up from his own end zone, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw a pick-six to Nebraska defensive back Tommi Hill to put the Cornhuskers up 14-0 before the end of the first quarter. Nebraska scored another touchdown on a pass that was nearly intercepted by Colorado linebacker LaVonta Bentley just before halftime to go up 28-0 and never looked back.

"It was just a rookie mistake," Shedeur Sanders said of the interception postgame. "That's what it was. It's small things like that that just can't happen. But that stuff happens so we just have to bounce back from it and learn from that situation."

If the Buffs don't figure out a way to start games faster, they'll constantly be in catch-up mode, further putting Sanders (who left the game early) in harm's way.

Colorado's defense is letting the team down

Overreaction. Lost in such an ugly game is the fact that new defensive coordinator Robert Livingston's unit has kept the Buffs in games for two straight weeks. After North Dakota State scored 20 first-half points in Week 1, Colorado pitched a second-half shutout until 2:19 left in the game.

Saturday night had a similar tune.

Nebraska was held scoreless in the second half and remember, a pick-six means that the Buffs' defense allowed just 21 points all game. They also held the Cornhuskers to just 3-for-12 on third down. That should result in a Colorado win more times than not with a pair of projected first-round NFL draft picks on offense.

Instead, another slow start and uncharacteristic play from Shedeur Sanders doomed the Buffs before halftime.

It's time to panic about Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur

Not an overreaction. There were more than a few Colorado football fans (and Denver Broncos fans) who were never a fan of Pat Shurmur’s hire as the full-time offensive coordinator. Most of them are saying “I told you so” after Saturday night.

The Buffs didn’t record a first down until their fifth drive of the game and finished the first quarter with minus-two total yards of offense. It was Colorado’s first time being shut out in an opening half since the 42-6 loss to No. 10 Oregon last year.

Most of that is due to a predictable, one-dimensional offense that hasn’t shown one ounce of commitment to the running game. The Buffs’ top two running backs — Charlie Offerdahl and Dallan Hayden — combined to carry the ball just nine times for 36 yards in the loss to Nebraska.

Hayden (an Ohio State transfer) did most of his damage on a 17-yard rush, but he clearly looks like the team’s best RB. Allowing him to carry the ball just five times — and starting Offerdahl (a former walk-on) — is a coaching error that falls at the feet of the offensive play caller.

Shurmur must bring some balance to this offense sooner rather than later, because Deion Sanders is already hearing the whispers.

“Pat (Shurmur) has done a wonderful job,” Deion Sanders said postgame. “I'm not going to go there whatsoever. Pat has done a wonderful job of putting of us in situations. But we have to want that. We have to want to run the ball, you know? We have to have those guys salivating like, 'coach, let's run. Let's run, let's go get it.' So we're going to get to that point.”

The Colorado football team is undisciplined

Not an overreaction. Penalties were an issue for Colorado last season, in Week 1 and again on Saturday night. The Buffs had 104 yards in penalties (nine flags), a figure that would look much worse if Nebraska didn’t have 105 yards in penalties (12 flags).

Mental mistakes continue to hurt this team and after a while, it’s simply a reflection of coaching.

"We can't do stupid stuff,” Deion Sanders said of the penalties postgame. “We have to stop the foolishness. I mean, I'm not going to say we ended up well, because we ended up with nine penalties for 104 yards and they were 12 for 105 but they won decisively."

Nebraska effectively ended Colorado's chances of a successful season

Overreaction. Yes, this one stings and many people will write Colorado off (if they haven’t already) after such a public letdown, but everything the Buffs want is still in front of them.

A massive opportunity to re-energize the fanbase arrives next weekend in the form of the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Colorado travels to Fort Collins on Saturday, Sept. 14 looking to beat in-state rival CSU (1-1) for the seventh consecutive time. After that, a pair of winnable games (vs. Baylor, at UCF) gives the Buffs a good chance of entering their first bye week at 4-1.

If that winds up being the case, this ugly loss to Nebraska will be quickly forgotten, especially if the Cornhuskers continue their winning ways in the Big Ten.

“I can't wait,” Deion Sanders said of Week 3 postgame. “Everybody in this room is dealing with some type of adversity, and our young men are as well. So I want to see how we all respond to adversity. That's what illuminates us, that's what elevates us, that's what progresses us to the next level. How we deal with adversity? Everybody's got a piece of adversity to deal with right now, and those young men just dealt with in front of millions of people, so we have to see how they handle it."

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Overreactions to Colorado football's game vs Nebraska, including Deion Sanders' defense