FACTS & STATS: Site: Tom Osborne Field (74,031) -- Lincoln, Nebraska. Television: ABC. Home Record: Colorado 4-2, Nebraska 5-2. Away Record: Colorado 0-4, Nebraska 2-2. Neutral Record: Colorado 1-0, Nebraska 0-0. Conference Record: Colorado 2-5, Nebraska 4-3. Series Record: Nebraska leads, 46-18-2.

GAME NOTES: Needing one more win to become bowl eligible, the Colorado Buffaloes go searching for that victory in Lincoln this Friday versus the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Buffaloes haven't had that much luck outside of Boulder this season, winning just one game, and that was in Denver to kick off the 2008 campaign. Colorado has been sitting back and watching the rest of the action in the Big 12 Conference since bowing to Oklahoma State in a 30-17 decision back on November 15th. The loss was the third in the last four games for a team that began the year 3-0 with triumphs over CSU, Eastern Washington and West Virginia. As for the Huskers, they are playing their eighth home game of the season this week and like the Buffs have been out of the spotlight for nearly two weeks. The last time Nebraska took the field was on November 15th versus Kansas State, a meeting that went in favor of the Cornhuskers by a finale of 56-28. The win was the second in a row and the fourth in the last five tries for Nebraska. The Huskers lead the all-time series against Colorado by a 46-18-2 margin heading into this contest.

Cody Hawkins, the son of head coach Dan Hawkins, has been under center for much of the season and has completed better than 57 percent of his pass attempts for 1,643 yards and 16 touchdowns, but he's also tossed seven interceptions, some that have come at the worst time. Scotty McKnight is the top receiver for the group with his 42 grabs, resulting in 461 yards and five touchdowns. McKnight has posted almost half of his catches (20) for at least 10 yards. The running game for the Buffaloes is a different story because leading rusher Rodney Stewart is out with an injury and that can't be good for a unit that is 10th in the conference and 76th nationally with an average of just 132 ypg. In terms of scoring offense, Colorado is all alone at the bottom of the list in the conference with a mere 19.2 ppg, a number that has the group ranked 105th in the nation this week.

From a defensive standpoint, there are only three games this season in which the Buffaloes held the competition to under 24 points and in one of those (West Virginia) Colorado needed to go to overtime to pick up the victory. As a result, the scoring defense for the team is 82nd in the country right now with 28.3 ppg allowed, yet among the programs in the Big 12 Conference, that actually puts the team in the middle of the pack. On the field for more than 700 plays, Jeff Smart leads the group with his 103 tackles and is among the league's top performers in terms of tackles per game with 9.4 per outing. When it comes to sacks and tackles for loss, the Buffaloes turn to Brad Jones who has logged team highs with five sacks and six TFLs. Of the team's six fumble recoveries, half have been credited to Ryan Walters who is also tied with Shaun Mohler and Cha'pelle Brown for the lead with a pair of interceptions as well.

Thanks to non-conference wins over Western Michigan, San Jose State and New Mexico State to begin the season, Nebraska has boosted its offense rather nicely, ranking sixth in the conference and ninth in the nation with almost 463 ypg to this point. Much of the damage has come through the air (289.8 ypg) thanks to the efforts of Joe Ganz who is among the nation's leaders in total offense with 304.6 ypg. Ganz, who last season threw for 484 yards and four touchdowns in the 65-51 loss to Colorado, has already thrown for more than 3,100 yards and has 21 TDs to his credit, but he has also tossed 10 interceptions. Thanks to his efforts the Huskers are sixth in the Big 12 and 14th in the country in terms of passing efficiency with a rating of 156.55. These days the Nebraska offense doesn't churn out the rushing yards like it once did, but that hasn't stopped Roy Helu and Marlon Lucky from combining for more than 1,150 yards and 14 of the team's 26 rushing touchdowns.

Twice this defense has held opponents to just a single touchdown (NMSU and Iowa State) but there have also been the weaker efforts in which the group has surrendered 52 (Missouri) and 62 points (Oklahoma), which means it pretty much has all balanced out. The scoring defense has permitted an average of 29 ppg, which is ninth in the conference and 91st nationally with one game remaining. Part of the problem is turnover margin, mostly the part where Nebraska has failed to force enough miscues by the opposition. After 11 games the Huskers have just seven interceptions and four recovered fumbles, so it is easy to see why and how the group is ranked 110th in the nation in turnover margin. But don't blame that on Zach Potter because he's done everything humanly possible to put this team in a position to win, specifically coming up with 5.5 sacks, 13 TFLs, two interceptions and three of their four blocked kicks.

The Buffaloes may have the incentive of trying to become bowl eligible this week, but in the minds of the Cornhuskers they're still thinking about the sting of last year's meeting, which should be a driving force in getting Nebraska the victory.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Nebraska 49, Colorado 30

Friday, November 28th, 3:30 p.m. (et).