When the Nebraska Cornhuskers run out of the tunnel and onto the field at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, in front of a packed house, under the lights of primetime, with a rival on the other sideline and on national television, it will be test time.
The Week 2 game is no longer a battle between conference foes and isn’t very high-stakes on paper, but it will be significant for the rest of Nebraska’s season and the coming ones.
The Huskers will surely be challenged more throughout the game by Colorado than they were against UTEP, but they’ll also face an emotional test.
True freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola hasn’t even attended a night game at Nebraska before, let alone played in a nationally televised one against a rival.
He said this week that he thinks of it as “just another game … just business as usual and our fans will show out like I know they will and one of the best atmospheres in college football.”
He’s absolutely right in that Memorial Stadium will be rocking, providing a jolt for the Huskers, but it will be harder to think of it as just another game when they’re out there.