The Colorado Buffaloes and North Dakota State Bison meet in week 1 college football action from Folsolm Field on Thursday. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Colorado vs North Dakota State Prediction.

Can Colorado Avoid the Upset?

Deion Sanders has made sure that Colorado has been the talking point of college football this offseason, but all of that doesn’t matter if they lose this game. If they lose this game, there are going to be some early grumblings about if this team is led by the right coach. Under center for Colorado is Shedeur Sanders, and he is one of the better quarterbacks in college football. At times last season, the line didn’t protect him, but the hope is this year will be different. The running back room looks a whole lot different but Ohio State Buckeyes transfer Dallan Hayden is going to a ton of opportunities and out wide it’s all about Jimmy Ward and Travis Hunter who both could be All-Americans this season.

On defense is where, Colorado also hopes to take a big step forward. The star of the show is Travis Hunter, but he is going to need some help from the others. Shilo Sanders and Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig are back in the secondary, and both have a ton of pressure on them. 

Can NDSU Pull off the Upset?

Normally, Power Five teams don’t schedule NDSU because they are afraid of the upset, and this NDUS team feels they can do that. Last year, NDSU finished with an 11-4 record before losing in the FCS semifinal. NDSU has a lot of their talent back from last season, but also lost a few key pieces. Three of the starters on the offensive line are gone, and with a team that is usually built on a strong offensive line, that could be a major problem. The quarterback duo of Cam Miller and Cole Payton are back, though, and both can be expected to have big games here. Last season, the Bison averaged 237.3 yards per game on the ground, and a lot of that comes with the quarterback play. 

On defense this is a veteran-led team and the pressure is going to be on the defense to be good here. The top four tacklers from last year’s team are back, and in this game they need to try and create a couple of turnovers. If they can create that, they are going to be in good shape to be competitive here. 

Why North Dakota State Will Beat Colorado

• Colorado has lost eight of its last nine games.
• The underdog has covered the spread in five of Colorado’s last six games.
• Colorado has failed to cover the spread in four of its last five games against non-FBS teams.

Colorado vs North Dakota State Prediction

Give me North Dakota State here and give me on the money line. College football is a team game, and NDSU is the best team. Sure, Colorado might have the better individual players, but I don’t think the Colorado defense is going to be making many stops in this game. This is an elite NDSU run offense, and they are going to have no issue running up the score here. This Colorado offense will have a couple of bad turnovers and NDSU is going to pull it out late. Back North Dakota State against the spread.