As the 2024 college football season inches closer, the Week 2 matchup between the Colorado Buffaloes and Nebraska Cornhuskers is already generating significant attention. Ahead of the showdown, Matt Rhule, the Cornhuskers’ head coach, had a candid conversation on the Joel Klatt Show where the former NFL linebacker admitted that he is wary of the threat of Shedeur Sanders, who, in his eyes, is an “Unbelievable Competitor.”
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Heading into the season, Colorado’s visit to their home turf would be special for the Cornhuskers, considering they lost 36-14 to the Deion Sanders-coached side last year. Evidently, Shedeur played a pivotal role in the Buffs’ victory.
HC Rhule naturally doesn’t have good memories from facing the Buffs last year and admitted that Shedeur gave him nightmares. He divulged to Joel Klatt that despite instructing his players to hit and blitz Shedeur vehemently, the Buffaloes QB stood his ground, displaying his resilience.
“He [Shedeur] is one of the best football players I’ve ever coached against. And, you know, we blitzed him. I think we sacked him like 10 times. And we hit him a ton. And he stood in there… He’s an unbelievable competitor. And he’s tough.”
He asked Klatt to ignore Shedeur’s commercial appearance and swagger off the field, as he is a fighter on the field. Rhule worriedly conceded that with Shedeur and Travis hitting full stride under the tutelage of Coach Prime, it wouldn’t surprise him to see the Buffs give Nebraska a tough time this season.
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While it’s weird to see a rival team’s coach showering his counterparts with such words of love and support, Rhule also sees the Buffs’ strength and hype as an opportunity for his team.
“He’s Made Football Relevant”: Nebraska HC Credits Deion for Making College Football Relevant Again
Unsurprisingly, college football’s stocks and popularity in America have risen since Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders started coaching the Buffaloes. Since then, the attention on college football has significantly grown stronger.
Rhule is keenly aware of how relevant Sanders has made college football in America and sees this as an opportunity to showcase to the world what his boys are made of. Therefore, the Cornhuskers head coach sees the upcoming matchup against the Buffaloes as a platform for national relevancy.
“He’s (Deion) made football relevant to maybe people that weren’t watching it. And so it’s our chance to kind of come into that game and people are going to tune in to see them. And they’ll have a chance to watch us too. If we play well, maybe people will have that same energy about us nationally that they have about them.”
Despite having five-star QB Dylan Raiola on their roster, Nebraska is not the outright favorite for the highly anticipated fixture. Considering this is Sanders’ second season in Boulder and the quality the team possesses with Shedeur, it’s hard not to favor the Buffaloes.
That said, it will be an exciting fixture for us fans. On one hand, we have Nebraska aiming for last season’s revenge, on the other, we have a hungry Colorado aiming for the crown!
