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On the opening Saturday of the 2024 college football season, the Montana State Bobcats went on the road and defeated the New Mexico Lobos, becoming the first of what is sure to be a handful of FCS programs to score upset wins over FBS opponents during the early portion of the schedule. On Thursday night, the Colorado football program will be playing to make sure they don't become the second FBS school this year to take an L to an FCS opponent when Coach Prime and the Buffaloes face perennial FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
As is the case for essentially all matchups of this kind, North Dakota State will be receiving a payday from Colorado to make the 900 mile trip to Boulder, and according to Daniel Libit of Sportico, it is a hefty one.
“In May 2016, the athletic directors of Colorado and North Dakota State signed an agreement for a football game between their programs to be played on a Saturday some eight-plus years later. Accordingly, CU would pay NDSU $700,000 to come to Folsom Field. Instead, the Buffalos and Bison will finally meet in a nationally televised prime-time game on Thursday, so as to accommodate ESPN.”
Daniel Libit noted that there was a provision in the contract that stated the price would be doubled if the Bison had made the jump from FCS to FBS by the time the game was played, but North Dakota State remains in the Missouri Valley Conference, and remains arguably the most dominant FCS program in the nation.
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At the time Colorado and North Dakota State agreed to play this game, the Bison had just won their fifth consecutive FCS National Championship, and were on a five-game winning streak against FBS opponents, with victories over Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado State, Kansas State and Iowa. During the 2016 season, North Dakota State pulled off arguably their most notable upset, defeating 13th-ranked Iowa by the final score of 23-21 in front of 70,000 fans at Kinnick Stadium.
Not much has changed for the Bison since that upset road win over Iowa in 2016. Even with a fair amount of coaching turnover, North Dakota State has managed to win four more FCS National Championships since then, including three in a row from 2017-2019.
Colorado, on the other hand, feels like a completely different program than they did in 2016, thanks to the late 2022 arrival of Deion Sanders and his son, potential 2025 1st Round Draft pick, Shedeur Sanders. Although the success of season one in Boulder didn't come close to matching the hype, there's still reason for optimism if you're a fan of the Buffaloes. Not only is Shedeur Sanders back to lead the Colorado offense, but so will consensus All-American Travis Hunter, who will once again be pulling double duty for the Buffs, playing both cornerback and wide receiver.
North Dakota State and Colorado kick off at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN on Thursday night.
