On a more serious note I'll reiterate what I posted in a different thread.
Today I saw a very talented team make a bunch of sloppy mistakes that you often see in the first game of the season. Did anyone watch Atlanta vs Philadelphia on Thursday? That was the first game of the season for most of those players and it was one of the sloppiest games I've watched in awhile. Those are NFL players and you think that it won't happen to college players? Watch the NFL games tomorrow and then compare them to the next week and you should notice how much more fine-tuned the teams are. You can practice as much as you want, nothing compares to in-game reps. Nebraska was robbed of getting game reps in an easier win, Colorado wasn't. It showed.
I think we need to face facts for this season - we weren't contending for the playoffs. The absolute ceiling was to contend for the Big Ten West which wouldn't have changed no matter the result of this game. I stated before the season even began that the barometer of success for this team won't be in how many games they win, but rather how they looked in those games. We're coming off 3 years where this team looked lifeless, where it was steamrolled on both sides of the ball, where pass coverage and tackling was non-existent.
Today, I saw fire. I saw passion. I saw guys flying to the ball. I saw a push up front on offense and constant pressure on the QB on defense. The defense sacked Montez 7 times today and pressured him on several other occasions. This same line managed 14 sacks all of last year. At one point, Nebraska sacked Montez 3 straight times on 3rd down. Tell me that's not improvement. The offense produced two 100+ yard rushers. That never happened under the previous coaching staff. Tell me that's not improvement. The offense produced nearly 600 yards on offense. That rarely happened the last 3 years. Tell me that's not improvement. Colorado had to earn about every single one of their points. The TD passes from Montez to Shenault were well placed passes that even Alabama would have a hard time defending. There were no gimmies and I suspect there won't be many gimmies all year.
Without a doubt, I saw the sloppiness, I saw the mistakes. Choosing to focus purely on that ignores the larger picture: this is a good team in very good hands. The results will come. Be patient and enjoy the ride.