It is fitting that in this final year before the insanity takes full grip over college football we get a reminder of what once was: Nebraska at Colorado.

There’s a comfort in that recipe. But for most Cornhuskers fans, that’s probably where the comfort ends after Week 1’s results.

It would be very easy for a sense of existential dread to take hold across Nebraska this week. The script feels written by Kafka — Franz, not former Northwestern quarterback Mike.

Matt Rhule’s coaching debut was a continuation of a recurring nightmare. The Cornhuskers held a lead in the fourth quarter, then lost it — and the squandering was their own dang fault. Nebraska’s final 2 possessions ended with a lost fumble and a careless interception.

Just like that, Nebraska fell to 2-14 in one-possession games since 2021.

Meanwhile, the vibe couldn’t be more different in Boulder.

Deion Sanders walked into an even worse situation than Rhule. Colorado was a wildly uncompetitive 1-11 last season. And though “Coach Prime” completely overhauled the roster to his own liking at the skill positions, there were plenty of reasonable doubts as to how the Buffaloes would fare in the trenches. Especially on the road against the defending national runners-up.

So much for that.

Colorado is the talk of college football after its 45-42 stunner over TCU. Because there is so much to discuss.

Like, who is the biggest star?

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who threw for a program-record 510 yards in his first start? Two-way sensation Travis Hunter, who had 119 receiving yards and a touchdown to go along with an interception? Running back Dylan Edwards, who had 159 scrimmage yards and 4 total touchdowns?

Nobody is having that debate over the Cornhuskers roster right now. Nebraska looked solid but utterly starless in its 13-10 loss at Minnesota.

What has been a highly anticipated matchup since it was scheduled now looks to be another chapter in Nebraska’s ongoing nightmare. This is a mismatch.

But that’s not the right attitude for fans to take into the game. Even if there’s a good probability that Nebraska’s nightmare continues growing higher than the corn itself, the trip to Colorado also marks something else. …

Nebraska’s most enormous opportunity in years.

Every football-loving eyeball in the country will be tuned in to see Week 2 of the Coach Prime Show. And the Huskers are positioned to steal the thunder.

Embrace the moment, Big Red Nation

From a mental health perspective, the key is to accept that you’ve already lost. And now you’re playing with house money. The Cornhuskers are a team with nothing to lose.

This is a strange position for Nebraska fans to be in — at least the ones old enough to remember the good old days. Even as the Huskers have struggled over the past decade, most games have come with an expectation that Nebraska could win. That’s what has made the disappointment so much more pronounced.

Nebraska has performed well in this position before.

The 2009 Big 12 championship game was supposed to be a coronation for Texas to reach the BCS national championship game. And based on who was running the clock, evidently it was. But the Huskers gave the Longhorns 59 minutes and 59 seconds* of unexpected fight before falling.

OK, so perhaps that isn’t the greatest feel-good example. But there’s not a lot of good material to work with. The Huskers haven’t spent a lot of time as underdogs until recently. And the reality is that even in this matchup, Nebraska enters the game feeling like a much bigger underdog than it actually is.

Based on the love being poured over the Buffs, you’d think Colorado was a 3-touchdown favorite this week. The line is 3 points — the de facto edge usually given to the home team. Vegas is basically telling us this game would be a pick ’em or Colorado favored by a point or less at a neutral site.

How could that be?

If we learned anything from Week 1, it’s that Nebraska might actually have a Blackshirt-caliber defense. The Huskers held Minnesota to 3.6 yards per play, the best a Nebraska defense has done in any game since 2018.

The Gophers don’t have a Sanders or Hunter or Edwards in their lineup, to be certain. But it’s possible Nebraska’s 3-3-5 defense can set the tone against a Colorado offensive line that still has some things to prove.

Impressive as Colorado looked at TCU, it seems evident that opposing coaches have unlocked a glitch in that defense. Going back to the College Football Playoff, the Horned Frogs have allowed 155 points in their last 3 games. Nebraska is the first real test for Colorado’s offense.

And on the flip side, Minnesota’s defense is a much sturdier test than Colorado’s. The Buffs were just gashed for 541 yards. Given Rhule’s obvious commitment to the run, Nebraska will have a chance to keep Colorado’s budding superstars sidelined far longer than TCU was able.

The turnover-happy Huskers will need to stay out of their own way, which is asking a lot of any Nebraska team in the 2020s. But the opportunity is most certainly there.

If Nebraska can seize it, Matt Rhule will be the coach who is the talk of college football after Week 2.