LINCOLN, Neb. — If you’re a late-arriving sort of Buffs fan, a Dodgers sort of Buffs fan, you’re probably wondering what the heck this whole “slow-start” fuss is all about.
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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