If you thought you were watching a rerun of the Oregon loss from last year, you’re forgiven. Saturday night in Lincoln was eerily similar to the beatdown that CU suffered in Eugene last season, as CU fell 28-10 against archrival Nebraska at Memorial Stadium.

All concerns that existed about this Buffs team throughout last season and after last week were under the microscope on Saturday night, and none of them passed the exam. The offensive line? Completely overmatched by a stout Nebraska defensive front in both the run game and the pass game. Shedeur Sanders was sacked six times and the Buffs ran the ball for just 22 yards on 16 carries.

The defensive line? Mostly unable to affect Dylan Raiola and definitely unable to stop Nebraska’s power run game, especially in the first half. The Cornhuskers were very efficient on the ground early on, and the Buffs struggled to keep them behind the sticks.

Game management? The Buffs botched the end of the first half with a chance to get some points going into the break, letting about 10 seconds run off before calling a timeout after a Shedeur Sanders scramble and then opting for a bizarre 61-yard field goal with kickoff specialist Jace Feely that barely even made it past the goal line.

"Hats off to Coach Rhule, his staff, coached a heck of a game," Deion Sanders said. "Great guy. Like I said, we came in the class together as coaches so I’m always rooting for them unless they play us. But I’m happy, if we’re gonna get our butts kicked it might as well be him."

This one was ugly from the start, as the Buffs started their first series with a dropped screen pass and a third-down sack. Nebraska answered with a quick march down the field to take a 7-0 lead on a touchdown run by Dante Dowdell.

Later in the first quarter, things went from bad to worse. With Colorado backed up to their own 2-yard line, Shedeur Sanders tried to get the ball out late to the right side, and Nebraska cornerback Tommi Hill picked it off and walked it in for a 14-0 lead.

After two more short Colorado drives fizzled out with punts, Nebraska continued to tack onto its lead with Dowdell’s second score of the night. After an Alejandro Mata field goal was blocked, Raiola got on the board at the end of the first half, finding running back Rahmir Johnson for a score to make it 28-0.

The Buffs’ offense got a little something going to start the second half, driving down inside the 10 thanks to a long reception by Will Sheppard. However, that drive fizzled out as well, and Mata got the Buffs on the board with a short field goal.

Most of the Nebraska focus was on killing the clock for the rest of the night, slowly bleeding it out with methodical drives. The Buffs found some more success offensively in the fourth quarter, and LaJohntay Wester got on the board with his first touchdown, but the hill was too steep to climb for Deion Sanders and company. They dropped to 1-1 on the season as they prepare for next week’s rivalry showdown with Colorado State.

First quarter

10:34 NEB: Dante Dowdell 12-yard run (Tristan Alvano kick), NEB 7-0

5:46 NEB: Tommi Hill 7-yard interception return (Tristan Alvano kick), NEB 14-0

Second quarter

6:44 NEB: Dante Dowdell 1-yard run (Tristan Alvano kick), NEB 21-0

0:40 NEB: Rahmir Johnson 18-yard pass from Dylan Raiola (Tristan Alvano kick), NEB 28-0

Third quarter

10:38 COL: Alejandro Mata 27-yard field goal, NEB 28-3

Fourth quarter

8:45 COL: LaJohntay Wester 5-yard pass from Shedeur Sanders (Alejandro Mata kick), NEB 28-10

Well, how much time do you have? A loss like this happens for a lot of reasons, but the offensive line has to be the start of it. Everybody is bored of the offensive line scrutiny after every game, but tonight it was truly the Achilles heel.

The Colorado offensive line gave the Buffs’ offense nowhere to turn for an answer for a majority of the night. Try to establish the run? CU can’t block it. Try to push the ball downfield? CU can’t block it. The Nebraska front was dictating the pace of play on that side of the ball all night, picking up six sacks and giving Shedeur Sanders and the Buffs basically no chance throughout.

"Seemed like we just never got it going," Deion Sanders said. "Protections were a problem. You know, I’m trying to be polite. Because I could say the same thing you’re thinking, but if I say it, you’ll say I’m throwing guys under the bus. I’m not doing that whatsoever. Protections were a problem. We gotta figure out a way to prevent that and do a better job with that.”

There was no real “turning point” in this one, as Nebraska basically dominated for 60 minutes. The biggest play that really put the Buffs behind the 8-ball, however, was the interception that was returned for a touchdown.

A rare mistake by Shedeur Sanders, both in terms of making the wrong read and making a poor, reckless decision, really set the Buffs back and put them down 14-0 early in hostile territory. Colorado never was really able to recover after that.

Colorado’s play of the game came in the midst of a pretty disastrous special teams night full of blocked field goals and shanked punts. However, in the fourth quarter, defensive end BJ Green II got in the backfield and got a piece of a Nebraska punt, giving the Buffs good field position.

The play by Green was a bright spot for CU in an otherwise dim evening, and could serve as a building block for the special teams unit moving forward.

Travis Hunter is basically the default answer here. Newsflash everyone: Travis Hunter is still very good at football, even in defeat. Hunter was racking up the numbers once again on Saturday night, reeling in 10 passes for 110 yards.

Hunter served as somewhat of a security blanket for Shedeur Sanders once the Colorado offensive finally got off the ground a bit in the second half, making a few big catches over the middle to help the Buffs get some drives going. His chemistry with Sanders is still elite, and the duo continued to show why it forms one of the top connections in the nation.

Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig missed most of the opener with an injury, but he was flying around on Saturday night. Silmon-Craig was a one man army on the defensive side, finishing with 11 tackles and three tackles for loss.

The Colorado safeties were constantly forced to put out fires due to the lack of a presence of the front seven, but Silmon-Craig was flying around and playing downhill all night. Defensive coordinator Robert Livngston asked Silmon-Craig to cover tiger ends and slot receivers in man coverage, blitz off the edge and play in the run fit, and the safety did all of those things effectively.

Safety Shilo Sanders left the game after the first series and didn't return. Deion Sanders said to the NBC broadcast team at halftime that he thinks his starting safety has a broken forearm, which would put his availability for the coming weeks in question.

In the second half, defensive tackle Chidozie Nwankwo and two-way star Travis Hunter both left the game. Hunter was having his right leg worked on on the sideline, but later returned. Nwankwo went into the locker room and came back out with his left arm in a sling. Running back Dallan Hayden also left the game in the fourth with what appeared to be a lower body injury. Shedeur Sanders went to the locker room with about two minutes to go, but it’s unclear if it was due to injury.

“I think the injury report, I think (Isaiah) Hardge did something with his foot on one of the punts," Deion Sandes said postgame. "Shilo I think suffered — I don’t know the extent of the injury but I know he did something to his forearm that put him out for the rest of the game. Chidozie (Nwankwo), I think it’s an AC joint or something like that. I think he’s gonna be alright. I think he’s gonna consequently play this upcoming week. I don’t know about Shilo. Shedeur got dinged a bit on that, what’d they call it? Helmet to helmet or whatever they call. Targeting. So he got dinged a little bit, so we just wanted to take care of him and get him out of there.”

Not an injury, but Trevor Woods was also lost in the game after being ejected on a targeting call late in the first half. Since the call came in the first half, Woods will be able to play with no restrictions next week against Colorado State.

• Colorado

Total Yards: 260

Passing

Shedeur Sanders: 23-for-38, 244 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Ryan Staub: 0-for-2, 0 yards

Rushing

Dallan Hayden: 5 carries, 32 yards

Isaiah Augustave: 2 carries, 6 yards

Charlie Offerdahl: 4 carries, 4 yards

Ryan Staub: 3 carries, 4 yards

Shedeur Sanders: 8 carries, -30 yards

Receiving

Travis Hunter: 10 receptions, 110 yards

Will Sheppard: 3 receptions, 59 yards

Dallan Hayden: 2 receptions, 27 yards

Jimmy Horn Jr.: 3 receptions, 26 yards

LaJohntay Wester: 4 receptions, 20 yards, 1 TD

Sav’ell Smalls: 1 reception, 2 yards

• Nebraska

Total yards: 334

Passing

Dylan Raiola: 23-for-30, 185 yards, 1 TD

Rushing

Dante Dowdell: 17 carries, 74 yards, 2 TD

Rahmir Johnson: 10 carries, 33 yards

Jacory Barney Jr.: 2 carries, 28 yards

Dylan Raiola: 3 carries, 7 yards

Gabe Irvin Jr.: 2 carries, 6 yards

Emmett Johnson: 1 carry, 3 yards

Receiving

Rahmir Johnson: 8 receptions, 49 yards, 1 TD

Isaiah Neyor: 5 receptions, 37 yards

Jaylen Lloyd: 1 reception, 36 yards

Jacory Barney Jr.: 6 receptions, 29 yards

Nate Boerkircher: 1 reception, 25 yards

Thomas Fidone II: 1 reception, 13 yards

Jahmal Banks: 2 receptions, 2 yards