Huskers Meet Buffs in Boulder Saturday
The Nebraska Cornhuskers take to the road for the first time in the 2019 season, traveling to Boulder, Colo., to take on the Buffaloes on Saturday afternoon.
By News Channel NebraskaNEBRASKA at COLORADO
SEPT. 7, 2019 | FOLSOM FIELD
BOULDER, COLO. | 2:30 P.M. (CT)
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HUSKERS
2019 Record: 1-0, 0-0 Big Ten
Last Game: South Alabama (W, 35-21)
Rankings: 24 (AP)
Coach: Scott Frost
Career/NU Record: 24-15 (4th Year)/5-8 (2nd Year)
vs. Colorado: 0-1
BUFFALOES
2019 Record: 1-0, 0-0 Pac-12
Last Game: Colorado St. (W, 52-31)
Rankings: NR
Coach: Mel Tucker
Career/CU Record: 1-0 (1st Year)/Same
vs. Nebraska: 4-5
The Matchup
The Nebraska Cornhuskers take to the road for the first time in the 2019 season, traveling to Boulder, Colo., to take on the Buffaloes on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff between the former conference rivals is set for 2:30 CT (1:30 MT) at CU's Folsom Field, with national television coverage provided by FOX and radio coverage available on the Husker Sports Network from Learfield-IMG.
Nebraska heads to Colorado after a 35-21 season-opening victory over South Alabama in Lincoln. The Huskers relied on an opportunistic defense and special teams in the win. Nebraska reached the end zone on an interception return, fumble return and punt return to overcome a sluggish offensive performance on opening day.
Colorado also comes into the game off a win, posting a 52-31 victory over Colorado State on Friday night in Denver. The Buffs' explosive offense showed great balance in the victory, rushing for 243 yards and adding 232 yards through the air. Colorado trailed 21-17 late in the second quarter against CSU, but outscored the Rams 35-10 from that point powered by four takeaways.
Nebraska and Colorado are meeting for the second consecutive season, as part of four games between 2018 and 2024. Colorado pulled off a fourth-quarter comeback to win in last year's meeting in Lincoln.
Overall, Nebraska holds a commanding 49-19-2 edge in the series. The two schools were in the same conference for more than 60 years in the Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12, before moving to the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively, in 2011.
Series History
Nebraska and Colorado are long-time foes with Saturday's meeting the 71st all-time between the schools. It is the second game in a home-and-home agreement that saw Colorado pull out a 33-28 victory in Lincoln last fall. That was the first meeting between the teams since both schools left the Big 12 Conference following the 2010 season.
• In last year's contest in Lincoln, Colorado jumped to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, before Nebraska rallied and eventually took an eight-point lead in the second half. However, the Buffs scored the game's final 13 points, including a touchdown with 1:06 remaining to escape Lincoln with a win.
• Nebraska and Colorado met each season from 1948 to 2010, as members of the Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12 conferences.
• From 1996 to 2010, the Huskers and Buffs concluded the regular season against each other on Black Friday.
• Nebraska and Colorado combined to win the final eight Big Eight championships from 1988 to 1995.
• In addition to this Saturday's game, Nebraska and Colorado are scheduled for another home-and-home series in 2023 (Boulder) and 2024 (Lincoln).
Nebraska Has Long History vs. Pac-12
Nebraska's meeting with Colorado continues a tradition of marquee non-conference games against Pac-12 opponents. Since 1983, Nebraska has played 33 regular-season non-conference games against teams that were in the Pac-12 at the time.
• Nebraska is 23-10 against the Pac-12 in regular-season games in that span, including a 6-1 record against Arizona State and a 5-3 mark vs. UCLA. The record against the Pac-12 foes only includes last year's meeting with Colorado, not games against Colorado when the schools were conference rivals.
• Nebraska has also played five bowl games in that time period against the Pac-12, going 2-3 in those games.
• Nebraska played at least one non-conference game against a Pac-12 foe for 17 straight seasons from 1983 to 1999.
• Nebraska has four games on its future schedules against Pac-12 opponents. In addition to the 2023/2024 series with Colorado, Nebraska will play Arizona in 2028 and 2031.
Frost in Second Season with Huskers
Scott Frost is in his second season at Nebraska in 2019. The 2017 consensus national coach of the year, Frost boasts a 24-15 career record as a collegiate head coach.
• Although Nebraska finished with a 4-8 record in 2018, five of the eight losses came by a combined 21 points. NU lost five games by five or fewer points, including a trio of three-point defeats. Nebraska won four of its final six games, and the two losses were a five-point loss at an Ohio State team that ended the year ranked No. 3 in the nation and a three-point loss at Iowa, when the Hawkeyes kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired. Iowa finished with a No. 25 ranking.
• As the head coach at UCF, Frost improved from 6-7 in his first season to 13-0 in year two. A similar turnaround at Nebraska could be historic. A nine-win season by Nebraska in 2019 would tie for the second-largest win improvement from one season to the next in school history (five games), while a 10-win campaign would tie the largest win improvement (six games).
• In 12 seasons as a full-time assistant or head coach, Frost's teams have posted a 127-33 record, averaging nearly 11 wins per season. Frost has been a part of seven conference championship teams and coached in two national championship games in his 12 seasons.
• Frost's teams have been ranked in the top 15 in 10 of his 12 seasons, including eight final top-10 rankings and six final top-five rankings.
• Each of Nebraska's last five head coaches won at least eight games in their second season, while the four head coaches previous to Frost each produced their best winning percentage at Nebraska in year two.
Frost Offenses Impressive on Opening Drives
One common theme of a Scott Frost-led offense has been a fast start, and that has held true for Frost's tenure in Lincoln. Nebraska received the opening kickoff against South Alabama and drove nine plays and 81 yards for a touchdown to a take a 7-0 lead. The opening-drive score continued a theme from 2018.
• Nebraska scored on its first possession seven times in 12 games last season, including six of the final seven games. All seven of NU's opening scoring drives resulted in touchdowns.
• NU received the opening kickoff nine times in 2018 and scored touchdowns on six of those drives while punting only once. The Huskers had a game-opening touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead in five straight games during the Big Ten Conference season.
• The Huskers scored on nearly 60 percent of their opening possessions in 2018, even with a pair of drive-ending turnovers in opponent territory. Nebraska's average touchdown drive covered more than 74 yards, including one 80-yard touchdown march and five 75-yard scoring drives.
• Over the last three seasons - 2018-19 at Nebraska and 2017 at UCF - Frost's offenses have scored a touchdown on their opening possession 17 times in 26 games (65 percent). The average length of the touchdown drive in that span is 73 yards.
• In three-plus years as a head coach, Frost's offenses have scored on their opening drive 21 times in 39 games, with 20 touchdowns and one field goal. In 79 games over six-plus seasons as a playcaller, Frost's offenses have scored on their first possession of the game 42 times, putting points on the board in more than half of their opening possessions.
• Frost's Opening Drive Scoring Percentage: 53% (42 of 79 drives
• Frost's Opening Drive Touchdown Percentage: 47% (37 of 79 drives)
Blackshirt Defense Makes Noise in Opener
The Nebraska defense has focused on taking a step forward in 2019, specifically causing more turnovers and big impact plays. Nebraska checked the box on that offseason priority in Week One against South Alabama.
• Nebraska had five takeaways against South Alabama including four in the second half of the 35-21 victory. The five takeaways matched the most in two seasons under Scott Frost (Illinois, 2018) and was only the fourth time since 2010 that a Nebraska defense recorded five or more takeaways.
• Nebraska scored a pair of defensive touchdowns–a 38-yard interception return by Eric Lee Jr. in the third quarter and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Alex Davis in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring. The two defensive touchdowns marked the first time Nebraska scored a pair of defensive touchdowns since having two interception returns for touchdowns against Southern Miss in 2013.
• Lee's interception return for a touchdown was the first by a Husker since Marcus Newby had an interception for a touchdown against Northwestern in 2017.
• Davis' fumble recovery for a touchdown was the first by the Huskers since Josh Mitchell returned a fumble 57 yards for a touchdown against Miami in 2014.
• Nebraska also scored on a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown by JD Spielman in the third quarter. The three non-offensive touchdowns were a first for Nebraska since the Huskers had three defensive touchdowns in a 31-3 win over Wake Forest in 2005.
• Nebraska was the only team in Week One with three non-offensive touchdowns and the two defensive scores are tied with Utah for the national lead.
• Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander has a history of producing disruptive defenses. In 39 games as a defensive coordinator (UCF, Nebraska) Chinander's defenses have scored 11 touchdowns.
Huskers Open Colorado Week with Media
Nebraska Coach Scott Frost and Husker football players met with members of the media at Memorial Stadium on Monday afternoon to kick off Colorado week. The Huskers will travel to Boulder to take on the Buffaloes Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CT) in a game televised national by FOX.
The battle between the Big Red and the Buffaloes will renew an old conference rivalry that dates back to the first meeting between the two schools in 1898. The Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12 Conference rivals met every year from 1948 to 2010, before going separate ways following the 2010 football season with Colorado joining the Pac-12 and Nebraska joining the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers own a 49-19-2 all-time edge in the series, but Colorado nabbed a 33-28 win over the Huskers in Frost's Nebraska head coaching debut last season at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 8, 2018.
Saturday's game will mark Mel Tucker's head coaching debut for Colorado at Folsom Field in Boulder. The Buffs opened the 2019 season with a 52-31 pounding of in-state rival Colorado State at Broncos Stadium at Mile High in Denver on Friday night.
For complete transcripts of Coach Frost's session with the media, and those of Nebraska players, click on the links below: