Colorado vs. Nebraska: Will Travis Hunter go off against Dylan Raiola? | Joel Klatt Show

JOEL KLATT: All right, let's go On The Road now as we kind of bounce through other games. Now, On The Road is going to be sponsored by Hampton by Hilton. When nothing else in life is 100% guaranteed, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. And I tell you, the team that I think has an incredibly tough road environment to deal with this week, which is why it's our On The Road game, sponsored by Hampton by Hilton, this week is Colorado at Nebraska. Nebraska favored by 7 and 1/2, and here we go-- the old rivalry. And think about it this way, folks-- I tried to be as unbiased as I possibly could, so I wore as red of a shirt as I could. This is as much as I can do on Colorado-Nebraska week. And it's probably more of a salmon. It's like a soft red. But this is just me trying to just say, OK, analyst hat, I can't be a Buff right now-- let's talk about this game, and let's really evaluate how this thing is going to play out. Because you know how I feel about Nebraska. If you've listened to any of the preseason episodes, you'll know that I think Nebraska is a real dark horse, even for the CFP. If they can win on Saturday night at home, they're going to be, what, undefeated facing Ohio State? I don't think there's any question about that. And even if they lose to Ohio State, they've got UCLA the next week. And now, all of a sudden, they've got their last three games, they're 7 and 1. And it's like, here we go. What are we going to do at that point? That's why this game is so big for Nebraska. Meanwhile, for Colorado-- Colorado has elite top level talent, just like I talked about on Monday. And then there were a lot of questions after beating North Dakota State. Now, their defense played a little bit better against the run, in particular in the second half. And I do think that that was an upgrade over last year. But we did see a lot of the same mistakes-- unable to run the football effectively, which puts all the pressure on Shedeur Sanders to throw the ball all the time, throw the ball because he has to rather than throwing the football and being aggressive because you want to. Those are two very different things. And you hear me talk about it all the time. This is going to be a great game. And by the way, this is a game that I was raised on, folks. I was born and raised about 20 minutes south of Boulder. All I wanted to do my whole childhood was play for the Buffs. That was my childhood. My dad took me to my very first college football game in 1985, and it was Colorado. I watched Ralphie run around, and I was like, that's what I want to do. And guess what? Colorado's main rival throughout all of that was Nebraska. Now, Nebraska bristles at that because they feel like their main rival was Oklahoma. And so be it. I'm just telling you from Colorado's perspective, pointing at Nebraska and making Nebraska their rival was what built Colorado for Bill McCartney in the late-'80s, which wound up culminating in a national championship in 1990. This is a huge game for these two programs. And it is a rivalry game. Make no mistake about it. CU has won the last three meetings with Nebraska. Go buffs. Sorry. That was the last one. That was it. I tried. I'm in a soft red. It's a soft red. OK, that was it. That was the last one. In last year's game, which Gus, and I, and Jenny called, Nebraska's defense played really well, but it eventually ran out of gas because they were put in a bind after bind after bind because of the 4 turnovers from their offense. Nebraska's defense had 8 sacks in last year's game, seven of them on Shedeur. And I think that, largely, Matt Rhule brings the same style of team back. A lot of those same defenders are back for Nebraska. What Nebraska needed to do, and I've talked about this at length in this offseason, and even touched on it with Matt Rhule when I talked to him for "Big Noon Conversations," was they had to upgrade at quarterback. Not to be great, I don't think they need something special at quarterback, they just needed a net positive. And I went over this again on yesterday's show with Dylan Raiola. If Dylan Raiola can just not turn the ball over, this team is going to be very difficult to beat. And guess what? They've upgraded in some areas around Raiola, in particular on the outside. Texas transfer Isaiah Neyor-- 6 catches, 121 yards, and a touchdown in week one. They got Wake Forest transfer Jamal Banks-- 4 catches, 61 yards, and a tuddy. Now, we're talking, right? So Nebraska's got some players-- remember, they struggled for a long time trying to find wide receivers. They've got some of those. Are they going to be tough enough at the line of scrimmage? You would expect that from Matt Rhule. And just remember, as I talked about all offseason, Matt Rhule has done this. He has turned things around. He has done this at Temple. He has done this at Baylor. And he will do it at Nebraska as long as he gets net positive quarterback play from Dylan Raiola. Now, on its face, should Nebraska be favored by 7.5? Yes. By everything that you see on film, yes. They're better at the line of scrimmage. I'd say their team is overall better. But here's the pause. The best two players on the field will be Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. And if those players just played on offense, I would feel very differently about this. But Travis has the ability to affect the game on both sides of the ball. And if he can be fresh and if he can be at his best, then guess what? He's the best player not only on the field, but probably the best non-quarterback in the sport. N/A So Nebraska might be at home and they might be favored by 7.5-- what happens if 12 puts a cape on and has 2 picks and goes 6 catches for 150? Because that can happen. Even if Nebraska plays a great game everywhere else, what happens if 12 puts a cape on his back, intercepts the true freshman in his real first game-- I mean, like, first time under the lights, first time really getting into it against, like, quality level competition-- he's about to look over there and see the best corner in the sport, the best non-quarterback in the sport. What happens if Travis Hunter goes off? That's why I can't get down with the 7.5. That's it. Shedeur Sanders, even when he was sacked 7 times, went off and still beat Nebraska last year. At times, you just have to say, the elite talent is going to win out. I do think Colorado's run defense was better last week against North Dakota State, which is nothing to scoff at, because that's a team that wants to run the football. And they stopped them in the second half when they needed to. They did a great job of that. Now, if they can be more disciplined, stay away from penalties, create some run game on base downs, on first down and second down, like they did against Nebraska last year. By the way, they ran the ball for about 5 yards a carry in last year's game. Last week, it was not very solid-- right around 3 yards per carry. So that needs to get better from week one to week two. If it does, watch out. Colorado has won the last three. With Shedeur on the field and Travis on the field, I just cannot in good conscience say that those two elite players, maybe the best quarterback in the game and the best non-quarterback in the game, are going to get beat by 7.5 in a game that they are clearly going to be circling all off season. I like Colorado in an outright win. I like Colorado 34-31 in an absolute classic in Lincoln.