Keeler: Deion Sanders, CU Buffs, not ready for prime time, get punched in mouth by Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. — You don’t bring a 30-carat diamond watch to a sword fight.

A Maybach can’t block. An NIL deal won’t chip an angry defensive end. You can’t microwave what has to be baked, slowly.

The Buffs were built for this moment. A foundation made of glitter, sand and promises, broken like so many hearts. Nebraska punched CU in the mouth. By the time the Buffs got up off the canvas, the bell had rung and the judges had gone home.

“Of course, (it’s better) whenever you’re able to run the ball consistently,” said CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who threw for 244 yards but was sacked five times Saturday night in a 28-10 loss at rival Nebraska. “But it’s just like — you’ve got to understand what your team’s good at.”

All true. But then again, what’s the point of a top-10 pick at quarterback if he spends half of the weekend running for his life? What good is a generational talent at wide receiver if nobody has time to find him in the clear?

You can’t nuke what has to be buttered and basted. And if the Buffs (1-1) are going to block like this on the road, their season might already be cooked.

CU-Nebraska wasn’t just a game. It was a referendum on The Coach Prime Method, played out on a national stage. A true freshman quarterback and a primarily home-grown offensive line, playing at home, ran for 149 yards and gave up zero sacks. The team with the senior signal-caller and five new linemen who’d only been starting together for a fortnight netted 16 yards on the ground and gave up six sacks on the evening.

The transfer portal is a finisher, a garnish. Not a base. The football programs with staying power stayed there the old-fashioned way, growing and nurturing a unit together.

You can’t hurry love. Or the trenches. Nebraska grounded and pounded its way to a 28-0 halftime lead before staggering to the finish. Three-fifths of the Huskers’ Week 1 offensive line made at least seven starts as a trio in 2023 for the Big Red.

Last Thursday, conversely, was the first time CU’s rebuilt offensive line — almost an entirely rebuilt room — had ever started together as a group. If North Dakota State was a mixed bag, Nebraska was a train wreck. The Buffs chewed up clock in the third quarter against the Bison, but ran the ball for just 59 net yards on 23 attempts against an FCS opponent. It was a harbinger of what was to come at Memorial Stadium, in all the wrong ways.

Oregon 2023 postgame: You better get us now.

Nebraska 2024: Hold our beers.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t played with each other,” said Buffs safety Cam’Ron Silman-Craig, who finished with a team-best 11 tackles. “We’re really just feeling each other out … we’re going to get better and better.”

They were better in the second half. Again. Heck, CU’s 2-0 after halftime this year, for whatever that’s worth. Although how much of that was the Big Red running it 18 times over the final 30 minutes, trying to just salt this one away and start the party on P Street?

If there’s a silver lining, underneath the bruising, it’s that the Mid 12 should be more forgiving. With apologies to Utah, the Wisconsin of the West, the Huskers (2-0) fielded arguably the best defense, and most physical offensive and defensive lines that CU will see the rest of the way. The Buffs are built to win 38-31 games, and the Big 12 promises plenty, a basketball league that plays basketball on grass in the fall.

In the macro, most of what Deion Sanders promised is still on the table. Technically. But not the College Football Playoff. Not this fall. Not for a team with more penalties at the half (seven) than first downs (six).

Not for a team that has a former Ohio State tailback in Dallan Hayden, and so rarely uses him.

Coach Prime has been running a program without a huddle, hurrying up to maximize the last collegiate years of sons Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders, trying to milk the pre-NFL time the superlative Travis Hunter has left.

He’s got 10 games. And he’ll probably be missing Shilo for at least some of those.

But as a test? As an affirmation? Saturday wasn’t just telling. It was screaming.

Fire up the portal.

Can we get a new offensive line in here?

New defensive line?

New offensive coordinator, maybe?

This was last September in Eugene without the three-week honeymoon first, Oregon without the fumes. Except for the steam coming from Coach Prime’s ears on the sideline.

“(Expletive) CU!” the Nebraska students chanted.

“Shilo’s broke!” they bellowed during warmups.

By the hosts’ second series, Shilo was on the bench, getting treatment. With 5:51 left in the first quarter, he was seen headed to the locker room with a presumed arm injury. Things for Shedeur didn’t start much better.

CU got the ball first, and the contrast between last fall and this was apparent immediately. Mostly in terms of locale, as the younger Sanders appeared to struggle to be heard. His first play, a screen to Hunter, skipped across the turf. His second, a screen to LaJohntay Wester, was off the mark. His third ended in a sack by Ty Robinson for a 9-yard loss.

On the Buffs’ next possession, given a short field thanks to a 61-yard Jimmy Horn Jr. return, they went for it on fourth-and-1 and the Huskers’ 28. Charlie Offerdahl got stuffed for a 2-yard loss.  Their next shot started at the CU 2, and rather than run to make room, Shedeur dropped back on the first play, firing a pick-6 to Nebraska’s Tommi Hall that pushed the Big Red’s cushion to 13-0 with 5:46 left in the first quarter.

“Why would we keep running the ball if, OK, we’re out there, we’re in a situation where it’s a must-get,” the Buffs QB explained, “and we won’t get it?”

They don’t get it. They might never get it. Deion Sanders could outrun the football gods and dare them to keep pace. Coach Prime can’t. At some point, all that empty catches up with you.