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.
Well, it's the story once again today. Shenault and Landman were nothing short of fantastic.
Shenault caught 10 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown. He also had a key rushing touchdown as a wildcat quarterback on a 4th down play in the first quarter.
Landman led the Buffs with 13 tackles (8 solo), had two tackles for loss, and a very key interception.
"We were all flying around," Landman said. "I saw a lot of guys making great tackles today, some big hits out there, and like I say all the time, I can’t do what I do without my D-Line or my secondary. Their D-Line was plugging up gaps, I was coming free on a lot of tackles. I credit Nebraska, they’re a tough team and we just played a little harder today."
Landman was just a young boy when the Buffs last played Nebraska. He was told of the rivalry but didn't really know much about it until game week. Now that he's played in the game, he knows all about it.
"We had been playing those games, old throwback games in the Champions Center the whole week, and I could kind of see the crowd going crazy, the plays people were making and how the alumni was affected, too," explained Landman. "I had people saying how big of a game it was, and just to get that win, not only for our team, but everyone back in Boulder, everyone here, who traveled to come here, we had a pretty good turnout for this away game, so I was happy to get that one for them."
And the Buffs celebrated postgame. They deserved it.
"Oh, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life," he said. "You get big high school wins, but nothing compares to that. Those guys fired up, we’ve been working so hard since camp and summer training and we’re a brotherhood in there, we’ve all been grinding together, going through stuff together and to see everyone happy in there, smiling, jumping, singing our fight song, it’s just a great feeling."
With a 2-0 start to the season, the Buffs have serious momentum. They'll get an easier opponent this upcoming weekend with New Hampshire coming to Boulder for the home opener.
It will be important for the Buffs to not sleepwalk in that game and really throttle them. The Buffs will likely be 3-0 before their bye week and Friday night showdown against UCLA.
