Following Colorado's win against Nebraska, head coach Mike MacIntyre was fighting back tears. He knew how important beating Nebraska was for this program, and quite honestly, it helps his job security in a big way too.
The Buffs battled and battled and battled. Steven Montez was sacked seven times, the run game couldn't muster up much for the majority of the game, and the defense allowed nearly 600 yards.
Outside of the Buffs' 14-0 quick lead, Nebraska looked like the superior team in the first half, but CU was the much more gritty team during the entire game, and you have to give a lot of credit to the staff for turning things around schematically, leading to an incredible 33-28 win.
“The thing that I kept saying and I’ve seen in this team, and you guys might have felt my vibe a little bit as I’ve gone through since January, that is what I saw - a mentally tough football team, a team that is never going to quit and never give in," MacIntyre said postgame. "They showed that, we made some good drives in the second half, our coaching staff did a good job of making some adjustments at halftime."
This 2018 Colorado team is showing a lot of signs of the 2016 Pac-12 South champion CU team. The Buffs have beaten their top rivals to start the year 2-0 and face FCS New Hampshire next week. Is the Rise back?
Colorado couldn't have won on Saturday without being so mentally tough. Something that the 2016 team had as well.
"It was a physical, tough game," said MacIntyre. "That is a physical football team, that is one of the most physical teams we will play all year. The size of their D-line, the size of their linemen and their powerful backs. I couldn’t be prouder of the players and the coaching staff and their never-flinch attitude and their togetherness to me was amazing.”
The story of Colorado's win over Colorado State was the play of sophomores Laviska Shenault and Nate Landman.
