Colorado State and North Dakota State will meet on the same field for the first time in Week 1 of the historic 2024 college football season, with the Buffaloes' Deion Sanders' Week 2 game starting early Thursday night.
Prime is leading Buffalo after reconstructing the roster with another active transfer portal class, but the core is centered around quarterback Shedul Sanders and star two-way player Travis Hunter, both of whom are expected to be selected early in next year's NFL Draft.
Though North Dakota State plays at the FCS level, it has performed well against FBS opponents recently, winning six straight games against the best teams, including three of Colorado's Big 12 opponents this season due to conference realignment.
What can we expect from this matchup? Let's take a look at how the College Football Power Index computer prediction model predicts the game.
Colorado odds: According to a model that simulates the game 20,000 times to pick a winner, the computer has the Buffaloes in favor, giving them a 71.3% chance of winning the game.
North Dakota odds: The remaining 28.7 percent of simulations, or 5,740 computer selections, project the Bison to win.
Point spread: Colorado is favored by 10 points against North Dakota State, according to the line at FanDuel Sportsbook, which has the game total listed as 60.5 points.
Date and time: Thursday, August 29th
Time: 7pm Central Time, 6pm Mountain Time
Television: ESPN Networks
The Football Power Index (FPI) college football rankings and computer prediction model is a measure of team strength that predicts a team's future performance.
Rankings and score projections are based on 20,000 simulations of team seasons and games, combining key analytics such as previous scores, opponent quality, team talent, recruiting and team schedule.
Teams are ranked not by talent order like other rankings, but by their expected points differential per game against an average team on a neutral field.
According to the AP Top 25 Poll
Georgia (46 first-place votes)Ohio State (15)Oregon State (1)TexasAlabamaOle MissNotre DamePenn StateMichiganFlorida StateMissouri StateUtahLouisiana StateClemsonTennesseeOklahoma StateOklahoma StateKansas StateMiamiTexas A&MArizonaKansas StateNorth Carolina StateIowa
Game odds are updated regularly and are subject to change.
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