LINCOLN, Neb. — The count ends at 5,304.

That’s how many days it had been since Colorado’s last loss against Nebraska — until Saturday night.

Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes team was handed a proper pummeling by the program’s biggest rival in what ended as a 28-10 loss.

Here are three takeaways from the game that drops CU to 1-1 on the season ahead of the Rocky Mountain Showdown in Fort Collins:

Domination at the line of scrimmage

Whether it was on offense or defense, the Buffs were simply no match for the Cornhuskers at the point of attack.

It was clear fairly early in the game that one of these teams is built to play in the Big Ten and the other the Big 12.

While Shedeur Sanders was running for his life and ultimately sacked five times in a scene that looked awfully like the 2023 season, the CU run defense also looked a lot like last fall as Nebraska churned out 145 rushing yards on the night and methodically moved the ball down the field, running down the clock in the process as the Huskers grabbed ahold of the game and never let go.

Second half performance too little, too late

If there’s one thing Coach Prime has learned about his new coordinators through two games: defensive coordinator Robert Livingston knows how to make halftime adjustments.

After a rough first half in the opener against North Dakota State, Livingston’s unit gave up 28 points in the first half against Nebraska. But just like last week, things flipped after halftime as the Buffs forced punts on all five of the Huskers’ second half drives on the way to a shut out in the final 30 minutes.

Even Pat Shurmur’s offense looked slightly improved in the second half, but the 10 points CU managed to score never caused much nervousness on the opposing sideline.

Coach Prime will be hoping for a better start to next week’s game at Colorado State.

Travis Hunter remains the best player on the field

Where would the Buffs be without No. 12?

Even amidst all of the ugly football CU has played for the majority of the first two weeks of the season, Travis Hunter remains a bright, shining star that can’t be ignored.

His numbers weren’t quite as impressive as his stellar debut, finishing with a game-high 10 catches for 110 yards on offense and three tackles and a pass breakup on defense, but this game could’ve been a lot uglier without his presence on the field.