Colorado Buffaloes vs North Dakota State PREDICTION & Preview | Coach Prime YEAR 2 Opener

Fox Sport’ Joel Klatt was completely absorbed in his alma mater Colorado to win but not cover the spread Thursday night against North Dakota State.

Now, Klatt said he’s not with the Buffaloes just because he played there. No, he listed numerous reasons why Colorado will win and should be very competitive in 2024.

Klatt cited Colorado’s two stars as the main reason they will emerge victorious.

“Colorado is a 9.5-point favorite … and they’re going to be a lot better than they were a year ago,” Klatt said on his show. “I think there’s reason to be high on Colorado. Namely, I think they have one of the best, if not the best quarterback in their conference, in Shedeur Sandersarguably the best quarterback in the country, arguably the first pick in the draft.

“They also have a player who I think in many ways could be considered the best non-quarterback in college football, and that’s Travis Jager, because of what he does in different ways… So his impact will be enormous.”

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However, North Dakota State is not an easy opponent and Colorado could be in for a tough time.

“They’ve won nine of the last 13 FCS national championships,” Klatt said. “They lost in the semifinals a year ago, and this is a team that’s going to be really good. This is going to be an incredibly tough game for Colorado. This is definitely not an easy game, and I think it’s going to be a very close game. North Dakota State was fourth in the FCS in rushing last year with over 235 total yards (per game). So this rebuilt defensive line for Colorado is going to be tested right away.

“Their quarterback, the Bison’s quarterback, Cam Miller, he started 25 games in his career, so he’s an experienced guy. Now they’re down to their top two wide receivers, but that run game is coming back for the most part.”

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The biggest key, however, is Colorado’s offensive line in pass protection and opening up running lanes for new RBs Dallan Hayden.

“Last year, Colorado allowed 52 sacks,” Klatt said. “52, that’s an astonishing number. If they allow 30 sacks, which by the way is still not good, but 30 sacks is 22 fewer sacks. That’s 22 more chances to push the ball downfield, that’s 22 more chances to score on third down (and) that’s 22 more chances to get the ball in the red zone and potentially score. That translates, in my estimation, into wins. That’s what I’ll be paying attention to …

“9.5 point favorite is too much for Colorado. I believe they win a close game, pretty high scores, at least for week 1, 35-28, Colorado wins the game. North Dakota State covers.”