During an interview session with local media earlier this week, Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor answered a series of questions about the challenge his unit will face when the Cornhuskers welcome Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders to Memorial Stadium for a highly anticipated rivalry game on Saturday night. 

Gbayor, whose five tackles in a Week 1 win over UTEP were tied for the team high, handled the line of questioning fairly diplomatically. He said all the right things about Nebraska’s players remaining focused on themselves and their defensive keys regardless of who leads the opposing offense — in this case, one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country and a likely first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The only time Gbayor bristled was when a reporter asked if practicing against Nebraska’s own quarterback phenom, five-star freshman Dylan Raiola, has helped the defense prepare for someone of Shedeur Sanders’ ilk.

“You can’t compare Dylan and Shedeur Sanders,” Gbayor said. “Don’t do that. Dylan is a different man, the way he plays, the way he goes out there and attacks.”

“How are they different?” the reporter quickly replied. 

“Dylan is a dog,” Gbayor said. “Just know that. You’ll see on Saturday. I put all my trust in him and this team and the guys who [are] blocking for him.”

Nebraska LB on Shedeur Sanders vs. Dylan Raiola: ‘Can’t compare … Dylan is a dog’

Despite Gbayor’s pleas, comparisons between Shedeur Sanders and Raiola are inevitable before, during and after what is arguably the most anticipated quarterback duel of the young season, a showdown between one of the unquestioned faces of the sport and a player who, depending on how the coming weeks and months unfold, could develop into that kind of luminary presence for years to come, especially if the Cornhuskers continue their upward trajectory under second-year head coach Matt Rhule. More than a half-dozen NFL scouts and personnel are expected to attend Saturday’s game in Lincoln, where a ravenous Nebraska fan base is brimming with anticipation regarding what this year’s team might accomplish, and so much of that optimism and potential falls squarely on the shoulders of Raiola — just as Shedeur Sanders and his father, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, helped the Buffaloes reimagine what is possible seemingly overnight.

“I’ve never met him before,” Raiola said earlier this week. “But I’ve watched him the past couple years. Tremendous amount of respect for that guy. What he has to deal with, with everything that comes with being a Sanders, I just have a lot of respect for how he’s handled that. And I think he’s an elite-level quarterback. He’s gonna give us everything that we want. We’ve just gotta prepare. First-round quarterback, you know, the whole nine [yards]. Respect him a lot, excited to compete.”

And compete is exactly what Raiola has done since enrolling at Nebraska in January as the No. 21 overall prospect and the No. 3 quarterback in the country for the 2024 recruiting cycle, trailing only Julian Sayin (Ohio State by way of Alabama) and DJ Lagway (Florida) at his position. Raiola, who was previously committed to both Ohio State and Georgia before ultimately signing with the Cornhuskers, a team for which his father, Dominic Raiola, was an All-American center, needed only one spring and a few weeks of fall camp to surpass last year’s starter, Heinrich Haarberg, on the depth chart. When Raiola led Nebraska onto the field against UTEP, he did so as just the second true freshman starting quarterback in school history after Adrian Martinez blazed that path in 2018. And with all due respect to Martinez, who eventually transferred to Kansas State, the expectations surrounding Raiola are far higher.

Raiola’s first step toward meeting those expectations was an impressive one: a 40-7 win over UTEP in which he completed 19 of 27 passes (70.4%) for 238 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and an NFL passer rating of 117.9, which ranked 34th nationally among players with at least 25 dropbacks. He succeeded in pushing the ball vertically by completing eight of 12 passes that traveled at least 10 yards downfield, gaining 171 yards in the process. His two touchdown passes measured 59 yards to Isaiah Neyor, a transfer from Texas, and 21 yards to Jahmal Banks, a transfer from Wake Forest. He finished with zero turnover-worthy plays, according to Pro Football Focus.

Colorado vs. Nebraska: Will Travis Hunter go off against Dylan Raiola?

“The kid made some darn-good throws, some pretty good plays,” Deion Sanders said when asked about Raiola earlier this week. “They did some consistent things that we knew they would do within their offense. A phenomenal game. I mean, it started out back and forth a little bit, but they went ahead and they did what they needed to do. I love what he showed in his first college game. I love what he showed.”

Two nights earlier, Shedeur Sanders earned similar praise from his father after completing 26 of 34 passes for 445 yards, four touchdowns, one interception and an NFL passer rating of 144.9 in a narrow win over North Dakota State, one of the best FCS programs in the country. Even with a reconfigured offensive line led by five-star freshman left tackle Jordan Seaton, the Buffaloes proved nearly incapable of running the ball, evidenced by an anemic average of 2.6 yards per carry on 23 attempts. That left Colorado to move the ball almost exclusively through the air, not unlike the Buffaloes were forced to do last season when they ranked dead-last nationally in rushing at just 68.9 yards per game. Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden finished as the team’s leading rusher with 20 yards on nine carries.

Keyshawn on Coach Prime: ‘I got Colorado winning the Big 12’

Instead, Shedeur Sanders leaned on the dynamic one-two punch of wideouts Jimmy Horn Jr. (seven catches, 198 yards, 1 TD) and Travis Hunter (seven catches, 132 yards, 3 TDs) to account for 74.2% of his passing yards. He was only pressured seven times — an improvement from when Colorado surrendered 12 quarterback pressures per game in 2023 — and seemed quite comfortable with the play calling of new offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, the former New York Giants and Cleveland Browns head coach. The only Power 4 quarterback with higher passing grades than Sheduer Sanders (90.4) on Pro Football Focus were Miller Moss from USC (92.1) and Cam Ward (90.5) from Miami.

“He’s got a big-time arm,” Rhule said when asked about Sanders earlier this week. “He can use all 53 and one-third yards of the field, right? He can throw the ball from sideline to sideline. He’s got a great feel for the pocket. He moves in the pocket. He can hurt you with his feet, but he slides in the pocket to find guys that are open. He’s got excellent weapons around him. He’s courageous and tough. He’s an elite competitor.”

That makes Shedeur Sanders a pretty good measuring stick for Raiola come Saturday night.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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OMAHA — Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, visited Nebraska on Thursday to encourage local Republicans to volunteer as poll workers, poll watchers and attorneys familiar with election law.

Whatley was one of the lead Republican attorneys that the George W. Bush campaign leaned on in 2000 in Broward County, Florida, to push back against Democratic Party efforts during a recount of the Bush race against Al Gore.

His appearance at a training session co-hosted by the Nebraska Republican Party was part of the RNC’s swing state and swing congressional district push to restore Republican faith in voting processes by monitoring them.

It’s also a sign that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is still interested in competing for Nebraska’s swing 2nd District. The state is one of two that awards a single Electoral College vote to the presidential popular vote winner in each congressional district.

Trump sowed doubts

Trump has raised doubts, often without evidence, about voting by mail. Some political observers have said his unwillingness to accept his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden depressed GOP turnout in 2021 and 2022.

But the RNC has been brainstorming ways to remind Republican voters who have lost faith that their vote still counts. Critics of the program have argued that it is aimed at slowing down the process to certification if the race is once again close.

The RNC says it has largely settled on trying to make sure that election rules are consistent, that voter IDs are required, that voter rolls are reviewed for errors and that people who want to vote early to do so by mail and not via drop boxes.

“This is not election denialism,” Whatley said. “These are not conspiracy theories. These are basic protections on voting.… We’re trying to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Program started in North Carolina

Whatley, a former GOP chair in North Carolina, said he started a similar “voting integrity” program there in 2019. A consent decree had limited how aggressively the RNC could monitor elections, citing fears of voter intimidation. The decree expired in 2018.

On Thursday, Whatley told about 80 to 100 local Republicans that they were needed. He gave a standard stump speech highlighting the Trump-era economy, Trump’s talk about border security and the value of projecting strength abroad. He criticized Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We need to throw away everything that we’re doing at the RNC and focus on two critical missions: We need to get out the vote, and we need to protect the ballot, and that’s it,” Whatley told his audience.

Whatley was joined by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is close with Trump.

“I don’t know why the Dems aren’t participating with us in this,” she said.

Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb said the state party and the Democratic National Committee have an election protection team and plan in place, “so we are not worried.” She said they expect a close election.

“We’ve been at the election commissions late at night and early in the morning as our candidates won with a few hundred votes, so these plans are critical for a safe and fair election process,” Kleeb said. 

Update on winner-take-all push

Nebraska Republican Party chairman Eric Underwood spoke at Thursday’s event, thanking Charles Herbster, a big Trump donor and 2022 gubernatorial candidate, for helping to arrange the visit, and calling on Republicans to press their friends to vote.

In a follow-up interview, Underwood said the state party, the RNC and the Trump campaign are working on twin tracks to compete in the 2nd District while also pushing the Legislature to shift to winner-take-all rather than splitting the state’s Electoral College votes.

“We believe now that our senators and everybody else is on the same page,” Underwood said. “And if it’s what’s meant for this state, then it’s going to happen. I think there’s still a good chance for it to happen this year.”

Let me say this: I don’t hate Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, aka Coach Prime. I actually find him kind of intriguing, and he’s always entertaining. If he wasn’t coaching at one of Nebraska’s most hated rivals, I think we would all enjoy watching the Coach Prime show from afar. 

I’ll take it one step further: I’ve enjoyed watching some of the clips of him as a coach, going back to his time at Jackson State. When he talks to his teams, I see a man preaching old school values: hard work, accountability, doing your job, no shortcuts. You can see why he was such a successful athlete in multiple sports. 

But you also have to wonder what’s going on behind the scenes in Boulder. There was the news over the summer that Coach Prime doesn’t go on recruiting visits. At the same time, he seems to be keeping up his schedule of corporate speaking engagements and TV commercials. I’m all for a man making money, but that’s time that’s not being spent building a championship program. There was also the time his two sons who play for Colorado – quarterback Shedeur Sanders and defensive back Shilo Sanders – missed team activities to participate in a fashion show, apparently with the coach’s blessing. There appears to be a fascinating contrast between Deion Sanders, highly successful athlete and coach (which he was at Jackson State; it remains to be seen if he can get there at Colorado), and Coach Prime, the flashy self-promoter. 

Rhule vs. Prime

As Nebraska’s much anticipated matchup with Colorado nears, it’s hard not to notice the differences between how Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule goes about building his team vs. what we see from Deion Sanders. Rhule is invested in every small detail of the program, from recruiting to player development to game planning and more. He consults with athletic director Troy Dannen on big picture issues like scheduling, NIL, and the future of college football. He is fully invested in building a winner in Lincoln, and it appears he wants to be here for the long term. 

Contrast that with the Prime approach. There was a clip going around last fall where it appeared Sanders didn’t know the name of his own starting center. Players who have left the team have been critical about how the program is being run, and then those players have been harassed by members of the Sanders family. An offseason report focused on the chaotic culture in Colorado’s locker room. Maybe some of these reports are overblown, or even untrue; maybe we’re not getting the full picture; maybe he’s running a well-oiled machine. But it’s certainly different from most of the reports you see coming out of Lincoln.    

Perhaps the most glaring example of this contrast in styles is on display when it comes to roster construction. When Sanders was first hired at Colorado, he held a meeting with the team where he sent the message that he would be bringing in new talent, and some of those players would be moving on. He wasn’t lying: since taking the reins as head coach, the Buffaloes have had 97 total transfers. This story from CBS Sports laid out some glaring numbers: in their 2023 recruiting class (Coach Prime’s first class), he signed 72 new scholarship players, the majority of which were transfers. 61% of those players have already left the program. Just this year, over two dozen players have entered the transfer portal since it opened in April. 

This approach is unheard of in the history of college football. Before the transfer portal came into existence just a few years ago, it wasn’t even possible. Judging by what I’ve seen on social media, Colorado fans believe their coach is a pioneer. Bringing in new talent in the form of dozens of new transfers every season is the wave of the future, they argue, and Coach Prime is ahead of the curve. Given that the Buffs finished 4-8 last season, it’s safe to say that’s still an open question. 

It’s certainly not the approach Matt Rhule is taking. When he took over in Lincoln, he sent the message that everyone was welcome to stay. He has prioritized high school recruits, bringing in 59 players from the high school ranks compared to 21 transfers. What’s more, much has been made about how Nebraska has been among the teams with the fewest players leaving for the transfer portal. 

In the era of the transfer portal and athletes being able to make money through NIL and revenue sharing, programs have to stay nimble. I’m certainly not advocating for a stubborn refusal to evolve and adapt. At a place like Nebraska, you have to turn over every rock to find any advantage you can. But I would much prefer the type of approach Nebraska is taking versus what we’ve seen from Colorado under Coach Prime. Rhule wants to recruit mostly high school players and develop them over many years, while supplementing from the portal at positions of need when necessary. Sanders seems content to have a revolving door, cycling through players and cherry picking talent from the transfer portal.  

We’ll see how that pans out; I don’t believe it’s a recipe for long term success. In basketball, you can add one or two impact players and change the entire course of a season. Football requires building: building a foundation, building a culture, building a roster. Winning college football teams have pretty much never been constructed any other way. 

We’ll Learn a Lot on Saturday

Coach Rhule was asked this week about some of the differences between the two programs, and he didn’t take the bait. Both coaches have remained respectful of the other team in the run-up to the game. Make no mistake, though: it’s impossible to miss the differences between the two as we barrel toward game day. The philosophies of the two coaches could not be further apart. It’s a true clash of civilizations; the two approaches are completely incompatible with each other. 

It will take longer than Saturday’s game to learn which one is ultimately more successful, but we will still learn a lot from the game. As I wrote in a recent article: 

“Husker fans want to believe these are two programs heading in opposite directions. Matt Rhule has established a solid foundation; his culture is built on substance, hard work, no shortcuts. Coach Prime and his revolving-transfer-portal-door of a program are all flash, capable of the occasional highlight reel play but ultimately a house built on sand, poised to crumble at the first sign of distress. That may be true, but Nebraska needs to prove it on the field.” 

As always, GBR for LIFE. 

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