Deion Sanders says his team believes more every day.

Colorado beat Nebraska 36-14 on Saturday to move to 2-0 on the season. The win doubled up last year’s win total. The 22-point margin was the program’s largest win over Nebraska since the 62-36 win in 2001. If not for a late Husker score when the game was decided, the result would have been CU’s largest ever win in its 72-game history with the Cornhuskers.

“Played like hot garbage in the first half,” Sanders said after the game.

Yet the Buffs were up 13-0 at halftime. They would eventually lead 36-7 before a Nebraska touchdown as time expired. It was a different kind of win from the week prior, when CU beat TCU on the road in a shootout.

This time, Colorado had to grind. It had to take some punches from Nebraska.

“More and more young men — as well as coaches — are believing” Sanders said. “I think we’re up to probably 80% now of young men in that locker room as well as staff, support staff, truly believing what we’re capable of doing. It’s not believing in me, it’s believing in what we’re capable of doing.”

Sanders implored his team throughout the week to treat this game with Nebraska like a grudge match. The history of the matchup had to be explained to Sanders, but Sanders and his staff embraced it all the same.

“We didn’t want to just win, we wanted to dominate,” Sanders said. “We wanted to really impose our will because the theme of the week was it’s personal.”

Colorado came away with four takeaways in the game. It got to the quarterback for two sacks and made six tackles in the backfield.

The crowd on hand for the win was the largest in over a decade. The field-storming that took place after the game went final was a fresh sight for Sanders and his son, Shedeur.

ESPN’s College GameDay will be on campus next week. FOX will make the CU game its Big Noon Kickoff Game of the Week for the third consecutive week to open the year.

Everyone is taking notice.

“A lot of this stuff is new to me,” Sanders said. “To see that many people that came to see us perform, it was tremendous. Not just the number, but the energy and the love and the expectation. I loved that. I really did.”

And they surely loved what they saw on the field. Colorado looks like a completely remade team under Sanders. And right away.

Sanders said a week ago if you were just now jumping on the bandwagon, he was fine with that. “We’ve got room,” he said. But that bandwagon will probably start to fill up here in the coming weeks.

Sanders has a team that can win shootouts and slugfests. He has a group that now has proof of concept.

“It tells me that we’re resilient. That we’re tough,” Sanders said. “We played a smart game. We’ve just got to start quicker.

“This team hasn’t scratched the surface of what it’s capable of doing.”