Colorado braces for physical season opener vs. North Dakota State

Field Level Media|published: Tue 27th August, 07:42 2024

Jul 13, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; Colorado Buffalos head coach and former MLB and NFL player Deion Sanders (21) of the National League is interviewed during the 2024 All Star Celebrity Softball Game at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado is looking to build tradition while North Dakota State wants its to continue under a new coach in the season opener for both teams on Thursday in Boulder, Colo.

North Dakota State has won 17 NCAA FCS national championships. Former Wyoming offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Polasek will coach his first game for the Bison after Matt Entz took the assistant head coach for defense/linebackers job at Southern California.

Colorado's last winning full season was 2016. The Buffaloes have lost six straight games and went 4-8 last season.

Last year, NDSU was 11-4 and lost 31-29 in double overtime to Montana in the FCS semifinals.

"NDSU is a storied program with a lot of history that has won a lot of games against some great schools," Colorado sophomore center Hank Zilinskas said. "They have the mentality that they don't care who they are playing, they're going to come in and play their butts off. We're getting ready for a physical game."

Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he didn't use the Bison's resume as motivation.

"We won't overlook them," Sanders said. "Everybody wants to beat us and we want to beat everybody. (The Bison) will be well prepared, they will be disciplined and they will come to play."

Last season, NDSU led the FCS with 47 rushing touchdowns and was fourth in team rushing yards at 237.3 per game.

"We revamped things to be able to stop the run," Sanders said. "The No. 1 things for us are to be able to run the ball, protect (quarterback Shedeur Sanders) and stop the run defensively."

Senior defensive tackle Eli Mostaert and junior defensive tackle Jaxon Duttenhefer anchor a Bison's line that will try to slow the Buffaloes' up-tempo offense led by Shedeur Sanders and two-way junior Travis Hunter, who plays wide receiver and defensive back.

"The singular focus stays on execution and us," Polasek said. "First games are about playing clean football and being opportunistic. Good clean plays are the result of good fundamentals."

--Field Level Media

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