North Dakota
North Dakota State vs Colorado picks, predictions: Who wins Week 1 college football game?
Deion Sanders is a fan of Shedeur playing for the Las Vegas Raiders
Shedeur Sanders is a projected first-round NFL draft pick and Deion Sanders wouldn’t mind his son landing in Las Vegas with the Raiders.
The North Dakota State Bison and the Colorado Buffaloes play in a college football Week 1 game on Thursday, Aug. 29, in Boulder, Colorado.
Which team will win the game?
Check out these picks and predictions for the game, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. MST and can be seen on ESPN (stream with this free trial from FUBO).
Colorado is coming off a 4-8 season. North Dakota State went 11-4 last season.
Colorado is a 9.5-point favorite in the game, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
The Buffaloes are -350 on the moneyline. The Bison are +270.
The over/under for the game is set at 59.5 points.
ESPN: Colorado has a 71.3% chance to beat North Dakota State
The site gives the Bison a 28.7% shot at defeating Colorado in Thursday’s game.
Sports Chat Place: Bet North Dakota State with the points vs Colorado
Shane Mickle writes: “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.”
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Troy Perlowitz writes: “Yes, North Dakota State is not like other FCS programs. Yes, Colorado is probably still a work in progress in terms of competing for national championships. But the elite talent level — especially on offense — should favor Colorado significantly.”
Matthew Postins writes: “Yep, I’ll take the underdog. Look — I’ve seen the Bison in person plenty of times. When one perceives they’re “down,” trust me — they’re not. Hostile environments don’t intimidate them in the slightest. Sanders acknowledged that he knew a challenge was coming when he talked about NDSU during Big 12 Media Days. The Bison aren’t sneaking up on the Buffaloes. But their style of offense can shorten a game and neutralize Colorado’s big-play offense.”
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Pick Dawgz: Take North Dakota State with the points against Colorado
Randy Chambers writes: “The Colorado Buffaloes are getting the benefit of the doubt for obvious reasons and are the more talented team. You’re rarely going to get an FCS team favored over an FBS team. However, there’s a lot of roster turnover with Colorado, especially on the offensive line and on defense. It’s going to take time for Colorado to really get rolling. Also, the North Dakota State Bison are the best FCS program by a long shot, with 9 titles since 2011. North Dakota State is the Alabama of the FCS ranks and certainly will not enter this game intimidated. In fact, I guarantee North Dakota State believes it can win this game outright. This is a dangerous game for Colorado. Give me North Dakota State and the points.”
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STREAM THE GAME:Watch North Dakota State vs Colorado live with FUBO (free trial)
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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GRAND FORKS — Langdon Area-Munich’s Hilary Haaven helped power the Cardinals to a North Dakota Class B state championship last weekend in Bismarck.
On Monday, she was one of four area players recognized with North Dakota Class B all-state honors.
Haaven and Park River-Fordville-Lankin’s Lauren Bell were all-state first team choices, while Drayton-Valley-Edinburg’s Elizabeth Fedje and Griggs-Midkota’s Kelsey Johnson received second team honors.
Haaven, just a freshman, recorded 23 kills and 39 digs in the state title match as Langdon Area-Munich repeated as state champions by pulling off a reverse sweep of Medina-Pingree-Buchanan. Haaven already surpassed 1,000 career kills in October.
Haaven was the only member of the 24-member all-state team who is younger than a junior in high school.
Bell, a junior middle hitter and repeat all-state choice from 2024, racked up 520 kills, 393 digs, 43 aces and 84 blocks this season.
Fedje, a senior middle hitter, racked up 521 kills and 296 digs. Fedje, who has been the D-V-E kill leader each season since 2022, has more than 1,300 career kills in 347 career sets played.
Johnson, a senior outside hitter, finished with 255 kills this season and 353 digs. She also had 31 aces and 12 blocks.
Brynn Sorenson of Medina-P-B was named the Outstanding Senior Athlete, while her coach Jacie Connell was named Coach of the Year.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Ivy League is participating in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the first time this season, and the conference will be well represented.
Yale, which defeated rival Harvard for the Ivy title on Saturday, and the Crimson are in the 24-team tournament field, which was announced on Sunday night on ESPNU. The Bulldogs (8-2) will play at Youngstown State (8-4), and Harvard (9-1) will play at Villanova (9-2).
“I am incredibly proud of our players and entire staff. They have poured their hearts into the work that brought us to this moment, and earning the opportunity to win a championship and become the first team to represent the Ivy League in the FCS playoffs makes it ever more special,” Yale coach Tony Reno said Saturday after the win. “Our players made a true commitment to one another and never stopped believing in our mission or in the goals we set together. This is an exceptional group of men, and I could not be prouder of everyone.”
In the 141st chapter of the rivalry known as The Game, Yale outlasted previously unbeaten Harvard, 45-28, as quarterback Dante Reno completed 15 of 19 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns in the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.
“Our defense is one of the best in the league,” Reno, a sophomore, said. “They’ve been proving that all year. It took us a little bit to start offensively earlier this season, and we kind of clicked over the last couple of weeks.”
TWO BID IVY.@HarvardFootball and @yalefootball have earned bids to the @NCAA_FCS playoffs.
🌿 Harvard vs. No. 12 Villanova
🌿 Yale vs. No. 15 Youngstown State pic.twitter.com/3Md5RlFGiJ— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) November 23, 2025
At the top of the FCS board, defending national champion North Dakota State will lead a record-tying six teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference into the tournament. The MVFC champion Bison (12-0) were named the No. 1 seed and will be making their 16th consecutive appearance.
All told, the field is made up of 11 automatically qualifying conference champions and 13 at-large selections. The first round begins Saturday with unseeded teams paired with teams seeded 9-16 primarily according to geographical proximity. The championship game is Jan. 5 at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
North Dakota State has won 10 of the past 14 FCS titles. The Bison beat St. Thomas-Minnesota 62-7 on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 16 games.
Montana State (10-2), the runner-up to NDSU last year, earned the No. 2 seed after beating rival Montana 31-28 to clinch the Big Sky Conference championship. Montana (11-1) is the No. 3 seed. Tarleton State (11-1) of the United Athletic Conference is the No. 4 seed.
Patriot League champion Lehigh (12-0) is No. 5, Southern champion Mercer (9-2) is No. 6, Southland champion Stephen F. Austin (10-2) is No. 7 and the Big Sky’s UC Davis (8-3) is No. 8.
The top eight seeds receive a first-round bye and will play their second-round game at home.
The rest of the first-round games are: Illinois State (8-4) at SE Louisiana (9-3); Central Connecticut State (8-4) at Rhode Island (10-2); North Dakota (7-5) at Tennessee Tech (11-1); New Hampshire (8-4) at South Dakota State (8-4); Drake (8-3) at South Dakota (8-4); and Lamar (8-4) at Abilene Christian (8-4).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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