The one he’s walked by a million times now. The one that won’t stop staring back with emptiness. The one that mocks him, silently, reminding him what should’ve been. And wasn’t.

“I’ve only won one trophy here, so that definitely (hacks) me off,” Blackburn, the CSU Rams’ senior safety, told me earlier this year. “And it’s something that we all are aware of and definitely working to make sure that doesn’t happen in my last season. We’re all aware of our rivalry games and we’ve got two at home … so yeah, those are definitely huge games for us that we need to win.”

Once the bruises and pride start talking, they never stop. Rocky Mountain Showdown Week opens up all kinds of old wounds. Shedeur Sanders turning into Tom Brady. The Rams letting one slip away late, a recurring theme for 2023 that nobody wanted.

“Henry wants to see us win. He wants to see us do the things we need to do to win,” added third-year CSU coach Jay Norvell, who’s seeking his first rivalry win on Saturday night when the two 1-1 rivals lock horns at Canvas Stadium for the first time.

“And I think that’s probably been the biggest difference in our leaders is that they’ve been super-focused on making everybody else accountable … going to class, making sure you’re on time for workouts, finishing workouts, all the things that we ask our kids to do in our program. Our leaders have been super detailed in making them accountable. And so I just think Henry’s been dialed in with that.

“He’s one of those guys that just loves to play, whether it’s practice or a game. And he reminds me a lot of myself, to be honest, when I was in college.”

Despite some dings this past spring, Blackburn’s playing faster than ever. Counters in the chess game on the field come quicker. So does the first step.

The Boulder native says he power-cleaned 300 pounds earlier this year. He maxed out at 275-ish in spring 2023. The 225-pound bench press reps, another NFL combine test, went up to 17 earlier this year after hovering in the 12 range the season before.

“Just everything, my whole game and every facet, (is) improved physically,” Blackburn said. “And then obviously, the mental side has been something I’ve been really working to improve as well.”

•••

This week’s special. Just not in the ways you’d think. Blackburn’s turned enough pages from last year’s Rocky Mountain Showdown to make George R.R. Martin blush.

“I mean, he’s a good dude and I wish him the best in his career,” Blackburn said of Hunter, the Buffs two-way star who left last September’s Showdown at Folsom Field after taking a blow from the CSU safety near the home sideline. “I don’t have any (ill will). We’re good.

“And obviously, we’re going to have to play again, strap it up again, and that’ll be a fun game. But yeah, I’ve got good feelings toward him and everything and wish him the best in his career.”

Beyond that, Blackburn declined to dive into specifics.

Everyone wants to move on. The social media benefits of the Coach Prime Effect have been a tide that lifts all boats for CU athletics. But when the narrative gets ugly, that wave can turn into a tsunami. Lines get crossed. Five individuals were reportedly charged with making threats against Blackburn and his family.

“Yeah, it was kind of frustrating because, being on the (CU) side, they didn’t really have to do that,” CU defensive back Isaiah Hardge told me. “But at the end of the day … it’s football, anything can happen.”

What got lost in the hit that rocked Folsom Field was the good souls in both the Buffs and Rams locker rooms that worked behind the scenes to mend fences.

Hardge was one of them. The Florida native’s older brother, Ron Hardge III, played for the Rams last year. Last September, the younger Hardge was playing NBA 2K with Hunter when Ron called him up and said he was sitting next to Blackburn.

“I was talking on the mic with (Hunter) and that’s when I had my brother, who was next to Henry,” Isaiah Hardge recalled. “We were just kind of talking, and he heard him, so I was kind of the middle man.”

Ron rang up Isaiah and he merged the call with Hunter.

“So I had called Henry and then put him on the phone with (Travis) on a merge,” Isaiah said. “And that’s when they were talking … that’s when we kind of set it up with the bowling thing. That’s how it all happened.”

You know the rest. Blackburn and Hunter agreed to bowl in Westminster for charity. Both players wound up contributing $1,000 each to the cause of Blackburn’s choice: Fort Collins-based Realities For Children. The nonprofit, whose motto is, “because no child should be forgotten,” works to improve the lives of children who have been abused, neglected, or are at risk.

Former CSU and Broncos star Shaq Barrett and his wife, Jordana, have backed the organization in the past, and it’s got some cool things afoot. RFC is constructing a Healing Sanctuary Campus on a 4-acre lot adjacent to the organization’s headquarters.

“I met Henry when I went up to Fort Collins with my brother,” Hardge said. “I keep in contact with him. He’s good. Yeah, he’s a good guy, he’s a cool guy. I mean, it just blew up.

“Everybody was saying that was a foul hit. But at the end of the day, they came and squashed the beef. I mean, (there) was no beef. It was good sportsmanship, everybody getting along. And then just coming together and just solving the problem.”

•••

Hundreds of problems, actually. Thanks in part to Hunter and Blackburn, RFC recently filled and distributed 1,005 backpacks full of supplies this summer for local schoolchildren.

Last year, RFC provided emergency funding services for 5,116 children and distributed items to more than 15,000 youths and their families while providing youth activities and facilities space for nearly 6,500 kids and guardians.

No child should be forgotten.

No good deed, either.

“I wish I could play for CSU forever,” Blackburn continued. “But I’m lucky to get a fifth year, honestly. I’m really happy that I was able to get five years here. It’s flown by.

“But it’s a blessing. I’ve loved every moment of it. And so it’s good that I’ll be able to kind of leave a legacy and pass on the torch to some of the younger guys when I leave.”

If he could pass them a trophy, all the sweeter. The best legacies are encased for eternity, the best last words engraved.

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Keeler: Broncos, easily. I mean, yeah, the Buffs are as one-dimensional as a Pauly Shore flick, but we’re too far down the stream to change horses now. The worst-kept secret in BoCo is that Shedeur Sanders — not Pat Shurmur, not Sean Lewis — makes the big calls on offense. The takeaway from Nebraska postgame? There’s no one No. 2 trusts more with the ball in his hands than himself. While that might work for CU in the D-optional, pass-happy Big 12, Bo Nix is in a different league. Literally. Bo needs more help, man. A lot of help. From everywhere. Now.

Renck: For me the answer is simple: the Broncos. Why? They are built to run. They guaranteed $126 million in contracts to right tackle Mike McGlinchey, left guard Ben Powers and right guard Quinn Meinerz to win at the line of scrimmage, to create, as center Luke Wattenberg called it, “a physical identity.” Yet Nix threw the ball 44 times in the opener. Worse, he was the Broncos’ most dynamic runner. Javonte Williams averaged 3.2 yards per carry over the final 10 games last season and posted 2.9 yards a pop vs. Seattle. He was more explosive in training camp. But is he better? Is he a starter? The eye test — even in a blink — says Audric Estime could be the team’s most dynamic back. Coach Sean Payton reiterated Monday he “didn’t do a good enough job” but explained the run issues involve scheme, better technique by linemen and improved vision from running backs.

Keeler: The downside of “going young”? Cutting sure things. Cutting veteran sure things, especially. Samaje Perine has lost a step, but at least those steps are usually chugging forward. Think Young Bo could’ve used the sure-handed Tim Patrick to keep the chains moving? It’s Sean’s show. Sean’s locker room. But Sean’s offenses in recent years have looked a heck of a lot better when they’re using the run to set up the pass, and not vice versa. Stat to note: Since 2020, Sean Payton teams are 18-5, and 4-2 with the Broncos, when picking up 120 rush yards or more, and 11-16 when it’s 119 or fewer. If Estime turns this engine over and holds the fort as a pass protector, that might be your guy.

Renck: CU is abysmal on the ground, with its running backs collecting 75 yards on 25 carries through two games. Stop the madness with Charlie Offerdahl. He can pick up a blitz. OK. Cool. Make him the backup and expand his role on special teams. Dallan Hayden needs more reps. Feed him and see if it puts the offensive line in rhythm. The Broncos’ situation is more alarming because they want to run. The Buffs do not. They say they do. But they don’t. And until they value balance over Sanders’ passing stats, nothing will change.

Keeler: I’ve been stomping for Hayden for two weeks now, to no avail. Meanwhile, Dylan Edwards is averaging 9.5 yards per touch at K-State, where he’s already scored three times in two games for the Fighting EMAWs. The Buffs sure would love that kind of explosion out of the backfield right about now. And young Bo could use it even more.

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“Tory is sore, but I think he’s going to be available to play,” the third-year Rams coach said of Horton, who left last weekend’s win over Northern Colorado with what Norvell described during his weekly news conference as a groin strain.

“So we’ll see how he progresses over the week.”

The senior wideout returned a punt for 78 yards in the first quarter against the Bears but left the game in the third quarter and didn’t return.

“Tory, he’s worked really, really hard to build his body up. He was shot out of a cannon on that punt return. … Hopefully he’s able to play.”

The 6-foot-3 California native caught three balls for 65 yards against UNC before exiting the contest.

Horton caught 16 passes for 133 yards against the Buffs last year at Folsom Field in a 43-35 loss in double overtime. Last season, he led CSU in catches (96) and receiving yards (1,136).

CSU hosts CU at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in a game televised nationally by CBS. It’s the first Rocky Mountain Showdown in Fort Collins since 1996 and the first ever at Canvas Stadium, which opened in 2017.

The Rams have split their first two games of the season, losing big at Texas (52-0) in Week 1 before returning to Fort Collins and beating Northern Colorado, 38-17, last Saturday night on Ag Day.

Norvell walked away from the latter displeased with what he considered an uneven performance against the Bears.

“We are a work in progress as a football team,” Norvell said after the game Saturday. “I was pretty irritated for most of this game because I just want our guys to play up to their potential. We do it at times. We scratch the surface at times, but I was not happy for most of this game. But I’m very proud of some of the efforts we had.”

Corey Masisak contributed to this report.

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After all, over the first two games of the season, CU’s football team in Deion Sanders’ second season has outscored foes by a margin of 24-6 after halftime.

The problem? Those 30 minutes preceding the band break.

The Buffs have “lost” the first half in each of their first two opening games of the 2024 campaign. Against North Dakota State and Nebraska, CU found itself on the wrong side of a combined 48-17 score over the first and second quarters.

The Cornhuskers zipped out to a 28-0 cushion at the break and (largely) cruised to a 28-10 victory this past Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in a loss that felt like a gut punch to fans of the Buffs and of Coach Prime’s rebuild in Boulder.

“Maybe we just (weren’t) ready, you know?” said CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who threw for 244 yards but was sacked five times. “But overall, I don’t think the crowd … affected (us).”

That response solicited a follow-up question, a search for clarification. If Saturday’s slow start wasn’t because of the rabid Big Red crowd, were CU players not quite ready, not quite coached up?

“What I’m saying is … you’ve got to understand, you get out there and everybody, you prepare, you do everything the right way, how you’re supposed to,” the Buffs QB continued, “but you’ve got to make sure everybody is (ready) when the big lights and everything come on … But the preparation and everything, that was there.”

For a second straight week, CU showed tangible and strategic improvement after halftime. But the Buffs have has yet to score first over their initial two tilts, and have given up 24 first-quarter points in those games. Which can be a challenging hole for any offense, even one that features the explosiveness of Travis Hunter, Jimmy Horn Jr., LaJohntay Wester and Will Sheppard at wideout.

“I don’t think we got overwhelmed,” Buffs safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig said. “The lights didn’t get too bright for us … I feel like (the Huskers) just came out … and played better.”

The Buffs are 2-6 in the Coach Prime Era when the opposition scores first, and 3-3 when drawing first blood.

“(We were) in games last year where we went down 20-0 and we shut it all down, everybody shut it down …  But the defense, we just came in and said, ‘You can get stops,'” Silmon-Craig said. “I think we got like seven (stops) in a row. We did not give up a point in the second half. That’s big. So we’ve got something to build off of. I mean, this is not the end. This is just the beginning for us.”

Despite the defeat, the CU defender said, Lincoln represented a step forward. Even if the first 30 minutes felt like having to endure a few loud, painful steps back first.

“We had every reason to shut it down,” Silmon-Craig said. “Ninety-something thousand people in this game. We’re down 28-0. Nothing falling for our way. I mean, the play before (the end of the) half, the guy tipped the ball four times (and) caught it and scored. We had every reason to shut it down. We came out with a different mentality. We came out and shut the guys out in the second half. So we’ve got something to grow off of. I’m proud of that.”

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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.

“Every (Cornhuskers fan) goes, ‘He’s egotistical,'” Lousberg said of the Buffs’ second-year football coach before CU kicked off against rival Nebraska on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. “I’m like, ‘Yeah. We knew that when we hired him.’

“That’s what their thing is. I think everybody wants to beat Deion Sanders. They want him so bad. I think that’s what made ’em mad the most is, we’re actually in the prime-time (slots) even though we’re not that good.”

Lousberg is a rare breed — a CU fan in the middle of Big Red Country. Well, more on the fringes of Big Red Country, technically.

The Buffs’ season-ticket holder is also the owner of the Middle of Nowhere Bar & Grill in Venango, Neb., serving burgers and beers to Bugeaters a mile from the Colorado-Nebraska state line, three hours east of Folsom Field and four-and-a-half hours west of Lincoln.

“CU and Nebraska have both been irrelevant for the last decade,” Lousberg laughed. “(The Big Red) are just mad because they’re living in the ’80s and ’90s.

“Now (Huskers fans) are all hoping (Sanders) leaves after his kids (are done at CU). But that ain’t going to happen. I don’t think he wants to coach the pros. He can’t develop pro players, because they’re overpaid crybabies.”

Behind enemy lines, Lousberg’s discovered from his patrons and neighbors that what gets under the skin of Nebraska fans when you mention Coach Prime is how national voices, big voices, can’t stop talking about him — and therefore, can’t stop talking about the Buffs. Win or lose.

“I think it depends on which Nebraskans you talk to,” former CU fullback and Omaha native Jake Behrens told me before the game. “I think there’s some that are jealous and wish (Nebraska) had him.

“It’s mixed. Very, very much mixed. Some jealous things. They wish they had him but still like him. I have friends who love Deion because he was big when we were in our younger years. When we were 7, 8 years old, I think we all imitated Deion playing backyard football … there’s also some jealousy. But that’s to be expected.”

Boulder and Lincoln still go together like quinoa on a Runza. But when it comes to football, they’re all chasing the same pie.

Big Red locals admit that the Huskers want badly what CU got just from hiring Sanders, and snatched without having to win a ton of games first: Relevance. A seat at the big kids’ table at ESPN and Fox. Nebraska fans don’t care if you love or hate Big Red football. They just miss people having to talk about it, to care about it.

“I think (Coach Prime) has done an amazing job bringing attention to this program,” Jamie Schnegelberger, who grew up around Boulder and now lives in Ogallala, Neb., told me recently. “The buzz walking into Folsom (Field) against Nebraska last season was something that you can’t really describe.”

Know what else she can’t describe? The language a Big Red fan threw her direction at a gas station once for having the audacity to wear a CU sweatshirt while filling up her tank.

“The majority (of it) is light-hearted though,” said Schnegelberger, who also sports a proud pair of bison tattoos on her arm.

“They usually tell me that they thought I was ‘smart enough to know better,’ or give me a hard time about how I ‘must have lost a dare,’ but I’m pretty quick on my feet and can usually come up with a response to catch them off-guard.”

Behrens, who played fullback at CU from 2006-09 after he redshirted in ’05, has a response, too: 5,034. As in, before Saturday night, that’s how many days had passed since Nov. 26, 2010 — the last time Nebraska had beaten the Buffs in football.

“That gets them quiet pretty quickly,” chuckled Behrens, who now calls Parker home. “I feel like, one way or another, there’s a good-natured dislike toward each other. … I think it’s fun and friendly to be a part of it. As a fan, I have a little more at stake because I have a good group of friends from Nebraska that I have enjoyed talking smack to for the past 14 years.”

Lousberg said most of his far-west Husker pals have been quieter than usual, given the Buffs’ three-game win streak heading into Saturday’s tussle. After all, they’ve been burned before.

“62-36,” Lousberg beamed, recalling the 2001 CU win that both sides, in retrospect, consider to be the beginning of the end of the Big Red’s national football profile. “I was living in Sutherland, Neb., at the time, and (Husker fans were saying), ‘Oh, yeah, we’re going to kick your (butt).’ I’m like, ‘Oh no, you’re not.’ I made some money on that one.”

When you’re running a CU-friendly bar on the Nebraska side of the border, the autumn weekends are rarely boring. Even if you’re stuck slinging chicken-fried steak to Huskers in the Middle of Nowhere.

“I’ll keep my mouth shut until after the game,” Lousberg chuckled. “If after the game we win, all Hell breaks loose — I’ll give ’em Hell. I don’t like to crow too much.”

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The statniks up in the Grading The Week cubicles didn’t believe it, either, frankly.  But then somebody sent them details of Devin Larsen’s prime-time inaugural appearance for CSU-Pueblo up in Rapid City, S.D.

Larsen’s record-breaking debut — A

Making his ThunderWolves debut, the senior transfer from Western New Mexico (’21-’23) by way of Garden City Community College (’21) and Iowa State (’19-’20) piled up 508 passing yards while throwing for five touchdowns and zero interceptions to power CSU-Pueblo to a 35-6 victory.

The 6-foot-4 Arizona native completed 30 of 45 throws on the night. His 508 yards were a school record and the most by any collegiate QB at any NCAA level for the week.

While Sanders has showcased his talents as a singer, writer, rapper and performer, it turns out Larsen is something of a renaissance man himself. In April 2023, the future CSU Pueblo signal-caller won a creative writing contest held by the Western New Mexico humanities department for his poetry. Larsen’s winning entry was titled “To Find My Great Perhaps,” and was described by the university as a work that “celebrates the adventure of living in nature.”

If Larsen’s initial appearance for the ThunderWolves is any indication, CSU-Pueblo fans could be in for more than a few celebratory adventures this fall.

PS2’s reign as NFL’s highest-paid CB — B

Pat Surtain II will always have Wednesday. And Thursday. And … well, that’s pretty much it. Turns out PS2’s reign as the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback, while deserved, also became fairly brief. So brief, it lasted about two days.

This past Wednesday, the Broncos’ Pro Bowl defender inked a deal worth $24 million per year. On Friday, the Dolphins gave Jalen Ramsey a three-year deal worth a reported $24.1 million a season, just pipping Surtain over the finish line.

Dollander’s dominance — A

More than 13 strikeouts per game. A K-to-walk ratio of almost 4-to-1. A 2.38 ERA overall, and a 1.65 ERA over his last eight starts.

Sounds a lot like Paul Skenes, you say? Darn straight. Only those numbers belong not to the National League’s most exciting starter. They’re the latest stats for arguably the most exciting National League starter in the minors right now — and he’s a Rockie.

If you’re like the kids on the GTW staff, you’d sooner stare into the high desert sun than watch the pitching on 20th and Bleak. But would you believe help is on the way?

While Bo Nix, Sean Payton, Deion Sanders and Travis Hunter are stealing all the digital ink to start the fall, Rockies right-handed starter Chase Dollander, Colorado’s top pick in the ’23 MLB Draft, is quietly making a case to be considered one of the top pitching prospects chucking it right now.

This past Thursday, the 6-foot-2 Georgia native posted his sixth straight appearance for the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats of at least five innings pitched, at least six strikeouts and with two or fewer runs allowed.

Late last month, he became the first Hartford pitcher to record back-to-back games of double-digits Ks, fanning 10 Binghamton hitters after recording 10 strikeouts against New Hampshire. The righty’s racked up at least 10 Ks in six of his 22 appearances this season for Spokane and Hartford. Other than the baseball gods, who says Rockies fans can’t have nice things?

“They go recruit and get the best players they can get,” Rhule, Nebraska’s second-year football coach, said of CU. “They do well in school. They don’t get in trouble off the field. And they compete. I respect that with what they do.”

“I have a ton of respect for Matt Rhule,” Coach Prime offered this past Tuesday when asked about the Cornhuskers. “And I love what he’s accomplished in his college coaching career.”

Remember when Buffs-Huskers was … personal? Those were the days, my friend.

Sorry. Not buying it. Make no mistake: Both programs need this one. Both fan bases need this one. Both coaches need this one.

CU, which visits Nebraska on Saturday in the final tilt of a four-game contract, hasn’t lost to the Big Red in 14 years. Rhule could use a rivalry win to get some wind beneath his wings and the Bugeaters off his back.

Sanders could use a road victory at one of the most hallowed grounds in college football. The Buffs could use more steak to go with all that sizzle. And nothing tastes sweeter than winning in Lincoln.

“You look at CU, and everybody wants to see what they’re going to be this year,” ex-Texas Longhorns and NFL quarterback Colt McCoy, who’ll make his debut as a television analyst as part of NBC’s booth for CU-Nebraska, told me by phone recently.

“You look at the numbers of who watched them play (North Dakota State) last week — they got a lot of attention. A big following, probably not only in Colorado but across the country … from that standpoint, it’s huge for CU.

“On the flip side, I think Nebraska is building it from the inside out. They’re well-coached. They’ve got a really good group of returning guys on defense. Their offensive line is probably their strength. And their freshman quarterback (Dylan Raiola) is a highly touted guy and sees the field really well.”

Coach Prime is 5-8 at CU; Coach Matt is 6-7 with the Big Red. The jury’s still out on Sanders and Rhule. But the winner of this weekend’s Salt Creek Showdown has the chance to make one heck of a case before a national TV audience.

“You can’t underestimate the value of experience when you’re dealing with units and with (chemistry),” McCoy continued. “And I think that’s the thing. We’ll see how far (CU) has come. This is a big test, to me.”

Big stage. Big stakes. We’ve come a long way from Dan Hawkins and Mike Riley, and thank goodness. The Buffs and Huskers are fighting for the same space, to pocket the spare key to college football’s penthouse again, to reclaim a generation lost. A pair of ’90s grunge bands trying to claw their way off the state fair oldies circuit, one gig at a time.

“On the CU side, listen, (they) came out with a bang last year but it just kind of fell off,” McCoy said of the Buffs. “What are we going to see this year? Kind of a close game last week … (didn’t) really run the ball that well. I feel that’s going to be a huge question mark.

“Obviously, they protected the passer a little better. On those known passing downs, (Shedeur Sanders) was rushed, he was hurried. You don’t want to be one-dimensional. You don’t know how good CU’s defense is. (The Buffs and Huskers), when I broke them down, neither one of them showed very much.”

It’s not just the stars. Or the styles. It’s the contrasts. CU’s 2024 recruiting class of 55 players, per the 247Sports database, featured 11 enrollees and 43 transfers, headlined by 5-star freshman left tackle Jordan Seaton. Nebraska’s ’24 class of 41 new Huskers included 31 enrollees and nine transfers, headlined by 5-star frosh QB Raiola. Same idea. Different ratio.

CU’s ’24 class was ranked 22nd nationally by the site, while the Huskers’ crop checked in at No. 23. Same coin. Different sides.

“When I played at Texas, we didn’t have a single JUCO transfer (during my tenure). It was very much, ‘We’re going to cultivate, we’re going to coach (guys),'” McCoy said.

“I think, naturally, over the years, that’s changed. I think being able to make changes through the transfer portal is something teams should utilize. No one’s done it at the pace that CU has done it, and think that (outcome) remains to be seen, obviously. You can’t second-guess the coaching staff and Deion, their (philosophy) is what they feel like is the best for the team and their program. We’ll see. I think that (outcome) is yet to be known.”

Ironically, that testy matchup between the two old rivals last fall — CU rolled, 36-14, thanks to four Nebraska turnovers and three Shedeur Sanders TDs — also showed the other side where they were still falling short.

The Buffs’ speed was impressive, but the burners-to-blockers ratio felt too skewed toward the former. CU needed beef and depth. The Huskers needed a Shedeur of their own and home-run threats on the outside. Enter Raiola, Big Red Country’s Baby Mahomes. Enter starting wideouts Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks, both 6-foot-4, a pair of transfers from Texas and Wake Forest, respectively.

“As far as who needs it more, these (kind of) games are important for everybody,” McCoy said. “For CU, if they can go in and get a win on the road, that would be huge. For Nebraska, it’s the next game for your mission of becoming the Blackshirts again, becoming a Big Ten blueblood … I don’t know which one has the edge. Which makes it fun to call.”

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“I just remember it being dead quiet in the stadium,” Montez, the ex-CU Buffs quarterbacking great, told me over the phone Tuesday. “That was the thing that stuck out to me the most.”

He remembers Laviska Shenault, the Travis Hunter before Travis Hunter. He remembers Viska hifting into fifth gear on a “go” route the last time they played in Lincoln, six Septembers ago, converting a right-shoulder fade into a game-winning TD and a 33-28 Buffs victory.

He remembers Jay MacIntyre getting clobbered on third down to give Montez a second chance at paydirt. He remembers the sweetest silence ever. He remembers talking trash to Nebraska linebacker Dedrick Young II, a pal of teammate and CU lineman Brett Tonz, while sprinting downfield to celebrate.

“What did you say?” I asked.

A pause.

“I don’t know if it’s appropriate for print,” Montez laughed.

“Did Dedrick say anything back?”

“He didn’t say a word to me,” Montez replied. “I could just tell he was absolutely livid.”

Funny thing? Montez considers Young a friend now. Well, except maybe this week. The Color That Shall Not Be Named Week.

“I’d rather be dead,” Montez quipped, “than red.”

The best grudges never die, do they? Since 1964, CU’s played in Lincoln 24 times. They won five of those games. Over the last 60 years, only two Buffs QBs have ever beaten the Big Red twice: Darian Hagan (’89 and ’90) and Montez (’18 and ’19). Shedeur Sanders, whose 1-0 Buffs visit the Huskers on Saturday night, is on the cusp of becoming the third.

“We knew it was going to be loud,” Montez recalled of CU’s last visit to Lincoln. “But then you get there, and especially the last drive of the game, I couldn’t hear when I clapped my hands to get the snap. I just felt my hands touch. I don’t know how (the center) heard me.

“I couldn’t hear any of the offensive line communication. It’s as if the crowd noise is pouring over your body.”

Montez’s pro tip for Sanders: When it comes to Big Red Country, it’s what you do, not what you say. Because as long as the latter is happening between the hash marks, nobody’s going to hear it anyway.

“The secret, first and foremost, I think, (has) got to be dealing with that crowd noise,” Montez said. “I’ve played in a lot of different places — I’ve played at (Oregon’s) Autzen Stadium. I’ve played the Big House (in Michigan). Lincoln is, by far, the loudest environment I’ve played in over my career. So I think if you can deal with the crowd noise, I think you can really have a chance.”

And with what he saw of Shedeur and the Buffs against North Dakota State this past Thursday night, he thinks CU really, really, really has a chance.

“The way Travis (Hunter) is playing, the way Shedeur is playing, the way Jimmy Horn Jr. is playing,” Montez continued, “if they’re able to get those guys the ball, they’re going to be tough to stop.

“Even comparing myself and Shedeur, his level of efficiency has surpassed what I put on tape (at CU). He’s playing some of the best ball that I’ve ever seen from a CU quarterback in shoot, I don’t know how long — at least since I started watching the Buffs. The way (Sanders) played last year, with the protection he got, it was honestly pretty mind-blowing to see him play that well (while) getting hit that many times, getting sacked that many times.”

And that’s coming from Montez, who was a darn tough cookie himself. The El Paso, Texas, native threw for 63 scores as a Buff from 2016-2019, and his 9,710 career yards rank No. 2 an CU’s all-time career passing charts behind only Sefo Liufau (9,763).

At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Montez, who turned 27 in January, was blessed with a prototype NFL QB body, a strong arm and an easy, quick release. But the pro game can be a fickle mistress, and after stints with Washington and Detroit in the NFL and the Seattle Sea Dragons of the old XFL, Montez signed with the CFL’s Edmonton Elks this past January and was added to the Elks’ “retired” list this past May.

This fall, Montez is the QB coach at San Marin High School in Novato, Calif., having dabbled on the coaching side at this time a year ago.

“It bought me a lot of peace and a lot of fulfillment working with these kids, so I really just wanted to do it again,” Montez said. “I had so much fun coaching these kids — I had a blast last year.”

Plenty of tread left on those tires, though.

“I mean, if the situation is right, I feel like I would definitely love to come back and play again,” Montez said. “I still feel young, still feel in my prime.”

He still loves proving doubters wrong. Still loves being the underdog.

And speaking of, the Huskers are seven-point favorites heading into Saturday night. They were three-point favorites six years ago. Ya never know.

“I thought the initial vibe coming into that (2018) game was, they thought we were going to to show up and they were going to just roll us or something,” Montez recalled. “It felt like all the fans were really confident they were going to beat us that day. And it didn’t end up shaking out like that.”

Heck, yeah, he misses it. We’re all going to miss it.

“Nebraska’s not going to renew that contract, are they?” Montez asked me.

“Not anytime soon,” I said.

Another pause.

“After going 0-3 (in the first three games),” Montez chuckled, “I wouldn’t want to play us, either.”

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And when it comes to Nebraska’s freshman signal-caller Dylan Raiola, Deion Sanders doesn’t just like what he’s seen. He loves it.

“The kid made some darn good throws,” the second-year CU coach said of Raiola, who threw for 238 yards and two scores in a 40-7 win over UTEP in the latter’s collegiate debut last Saturday. “I love what he showed in his first college game ever. I love what he showed.”

Raiola, the nation’s No. 3 QB recruit for the class of ’24, per 247Sports.com’s composite rankings, received at least 28 FBS offers — including one from CU. The 6-foot-3 teen ultimately chose Lincoln, where he’s the latest in a Big Red family legacy. Father, Dominick, played center for Nebraska from 1997 to 2000, while uncle Donovan is the Huskers’ current offensive line coach.

The Big Red signal-caller completed 19 of 27 throws last weekend against the Miners, including a 59-yard score to Isaiah Neyor.

“You attack weakness,” Sanders said of Raiola. “I don’t know if you attack inexperience. If that’s a weakness, so be it. But the kid made some darn good throws, made some pretty good plays.”

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