It’s all in front of Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes in their opener Thursday night.

They roll into their clash with North Dakota State as 10-point favorites on Fanatics Sportsbook and are massive -375 favorites to win outright.

The Division I AA school has actually produced two top draft picks in the NFL, Carson Wentz and Trey Lance, while also seeing Easton Stick get into the league.

There is no top prospect awaiting the Buffaloes on Thursday, though.

North Dakota State bizarrely runs a two-quarterback system, led by passing quarterback Cam Miller and supported by Cole Payton, who plays a role similar to Taysom Hill of the Saints.

We’re going to target a first-half bet against the spread.

Colorado vs. North Dakota State prediction

Colorado should heavily rely on its defensive line this season.

The Buffaloes’ defensive front profiled as one of the best in college football last year, and overall return nine of their 11 key contributors.

Colorado will need to improve its tackling and run defense to take a step forward this year, but that continuity and a retooled roster littered with transfers should led to an improved football team after last year’s 4-8 disappointment that featured several collapses in close games.

Offensively, Colorado will need much better play from its offensive line to protect star quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Thursday’s game should be his showcase performance that could vault him to early Heisman Trophy contention.

North Dakota’s defense, particularly their secondary, is abysmal.

Betting on College Football?

Two-way star Travis Hunter could also take a leap forward as a receiver. He’s among the best at the position and also shines on defense as a lockdown cornerback.

The Buffaloes should eventually pull away in this one, but the defense could have its hands full dealing with two different looks and completely opposite offenses.

In-game management isn’t exactly Coach Prime’s strong suit.

Back North Dakota State to keep it close in the first half, but it’s anyone’s guess how this one plays out in the second half.

PICK: North Dakota State first half spread +7.5 (-160, Fanatics)

Grid lines were laid out for a potential fossil dig at a home in northwest North Dakota. Mammoth teeth were found 1988 while preparing the site for the construction of the garage at the right. (Photo courtesy of the North Dakota Geological Survey via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) -Some mammoth bones have been gnawing at North Dakota State Geologist Ed Murphy for more than 35 years.

Murphy on Tuesday described for the North Dakota Industrial Commission how he became aware of a find of mammoth bones in 1988. He updated the commission, which oversees the North Dakota Geological Survey, because his department, in cooperation with the State Historical Society, plans to excavate part of the site and may need to request money from the state to finish the job.

In 1988, Murphy said he received a report of a homeowner finding some woolly mammoth bones while digging a foundation for a garage in northwest North Dakota. Murphy did not disclose a more precise location of the find.

The family had already sent a couple of teeth to North Dakota State University to verify that they had come from a woolly mammoth, prehistoric beasts that lived in what is now North Dakota during the Pleistocene Epoch, commonly called the Ice Age.

Weeks later, word got to Murphy that teeth had been confirmed as coming from a mammoth and he went to the site the next day. But by this time, the foundation had been poured and the garage built.

Murphy said he asked the homeowner if he would be willing to have the garage moved and foundation busted up so there could be an archeological dig. Murphy said the homeowner was willing, as long as the garage was restored the next month.

But Murphy was not able to find the people or the money to make that happen.

In December, 35 years later, Murphy started going through his notes from that visit. After the holidays, he contacted the person who now owns the home and attached garage.

While the property had changed hands, the new owner knew people from the garage construction crew, who had shared that there may be a mammoth under the garage.

So it was not a big surprise when Murphy reached out. The homeowner agreed to a test dig near the garage. Murphy said the small pit revealed some bone fragments and pieces of tusk in the backfill for the garage slab. Digging a little deeper revealed three undisturbed bones.

Margaret Patton, a research archaeologist with the Historical Society, also used ground-penetrating radar at the site.

“It doesn’t make beautiful pictures,” Patton said of the radar, but it does detect anomalies, something different from the soil around it, that corresponded to where construction workers had reported bones being found.

Murphy said a crew will return to the garage for a larger dig — about 6 feet by 6 feet and down at least 30 inches — in mid-September.

“If they uncover a big rock, I’ll be sad, but I’m hoping that it really will be bigger mammoth bones,” Patton said.

Patton said the September dig should provide a better idea of the potential for the site and the potential cost. There may need to be a budget request for the Legislature when it meets in January so work can continue into 2025.

While there have been woolly mammoth tusks and other bones found in the state, “a skeleton or a nearly full skeleton would be a first” for North Dakota, Murphy said.

Several species of mammoth lived in North America, including the woolly mammoth and the Columbian mammoth, according to the North Dakota Geological Survey. They lived alongside other animals like saber-toothed tigers and giant sloths before going extinct in the area about 10,000 years ago.

In 2023, coal miners near Beulah discovered a 7-foot tusk of an ancient mammoth.

“There we had a beautiful tusk that was really in great shape,” Murphy said. In addition, 18 other bones or parts of bones were found.

Murphy said fossil bones like the tusk are soft and need to be encased in plaster to be safely removed. Then it’s a monthslong process to stabilize the fossil.

Murphy said he is hopeful for the new dig site, but there are no guarantees.

“It still will be a gamble of what’s under there,” he said.

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The State Auditor’s Office found three separate areas where North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) can improve.

State Auditor Josh Gallion said the findings were part of a routine auditing schedule, which happens every one or two years. The department found that HHS’s nearly $7 million workforce retention program is ineffective, citing money mismanagement. The grant is meant to pay at-homecare givers. The report said some of the people who received grant money weren’t eligible, and some of the businesses awarded money didn’t pass that onto their caregivers.

The report also found that children in extremely abusive situations were not removed from those situations in the state’s mandated timeframe, which is between one to 14 days. It also said children in 83% of the cases examined did not receive their required in-person interviews in a timely manner.

“I strongly believe that here in North Dakota, we can do better, and we should be doing better, and I want to make sure we take all of these opportunities from the Auditor’s Office standpoint to make sure that we’re looking out for the most vulnerable among us,” Gallion said.

The Auditor’s Office said the State Hospital needs to strengthen its controlled substances safeguarding policies as well.

We reached out to HHS for a statement, but haven’t received a response yet.

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