Keeler: Deion Sanders, Matt Rhule sure played nice this week. But for CU Buffs, Nebraska football rivalry is still personal

BOULDER — Better cred than red. Right, Coach Mac? The only bulletin board material Deion Sanders and Matt Rhule sent each other this week were Christmas cards.

“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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