ESPN SP+ Computer Model Predicts Winner Of Colorado-North Dakota State

One of the most intriguing games of the Week 1 college football slate will be in Boulder, Colorado, as Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes host North Dakota State.

In most cases, you'd love to open the year with a "cupcake" FCS team, but Colorado will instead be taking on the No. 2 FCS team in the country, which has won nine titles since 2011. While oddsmakers favor the Buffs by 10 points, ESPN's SP+ computer model thinks that this game will be a lot closer than people realize.

ESPN's Bill Connelly created the SP+ model in 2008 and uses it to project who will win games and also the margin of victory using various data.

For Colorado, the model does have them winning, but it doesn't think they will cover as it projects a score of 34-32.

Connelly revealed that the projected margin of victory for the Buffs is 2.5 points, and their win probability is 56%.

Colorado is looking to get off to another strong start, as they did in Sanders' first year at the helm in 2023, which saw them start 3-0. The only issue last year was the fact that the team collapsed and finished 4-8.

Sanders and company added nearly 50 players from the transfer portal, forming yet another top 10 class. With the eyes of college football on this group in 2024, they will have a lot of critics to silence. However, they have one of the best quarterbacks in the land with Shedeur Sanders, who has the pleasure of throwing to two-way star Travis Hunter. With more talent around them, the Colorado faithful are hoping for a big year.

The Bison have a new head coach in former Wyoming offensive coordinator Tim Polasek. He will look to keep the program at the elite level established by those before him and make a strong first impression in what is his first head coaching job.

The game is set to take place on Thursday, August 29, at 8:00 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN.

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