Game at a glance
Comparison: North Dakota State Bison at Colorado Buffaloes
Start: 6pm MT
Where: Folsom Field in Boulder
Capacity: 50,183. Playing area: grass
TV: ESPN
Radio: KOA (8:50 a.m.)
Opportunities: CU by 9.5
Series: First meeting
After a recent practice, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders took a walk with a few assistants, as he often does.
They walked together for most of the way, but Sanders admitted, “In the last few steps, I’m going to turn the tables. … You know I had to win.”
Coach Prime and his CU program are the center of attention, and there are many differing opinions about him and the Buffs. But at heart, Coach Prime is a competitor, and that drive to compete and win is what drives him and his team as they prepare to open the 2024 season on Thursday night against North Dakota State.
“I’m a competitive person, not just in sports but in life,” said Sanders, a Hall of Fame player who is the only man to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series. “I want to win in life.”
Despite all the attention CU received during the offseason, the focus in the building was on one main goal, and that was to win.
When asked what he expected this year, safety Shilo Sanders answered bluntly: “Win.”
Last week, punter Mark Vassett was asked what he was most looking forward to this season and he replied, “Definitely winning a lot of games. I know this group will do that. We all have one common goal and that is to win, and to win right now. And I believe we will do that.”
In Coach Prime’s first season at CU in 2023, the Buffs went 4-8 and stumbled to the finish, losing their final six games. Five of the eight losses came by seven points or less, so the Buffs were close, but not close enough, and Coach Prime spent the offseason working to change that.
There are 65 new players, including 50 new scholarship players. Seven of the 10 lead assistants are new to their positions, including four who were not part of the program at all last year.
Newcomers and returnees from last year have been talking about the intense competition all month, and several players on the 2023 roster have said there’s a much different energy on the team this season.
“I feel like we’re all more like-minded now,” Shilo Sanders said. “A lot of guys know they have what it takes to go to the NFL and they have something to prove, like me (quarterback Shedeur Sanders) and a lot of other guys on the team. That’s just our mindset and we have more guys with that mindset now. So we’re basically just ready to show that.”
How many wins can the Buffs get? Coach Prime doesn’t want to give a number. But he knows the goal every day at practice and every time the Buffs take the field on game day.
“Even in my career, when I was still playing, I never talked about what I was going to do, contrary to what you all think,” he said. “I want to win, of course. You have to be an idiot not to want to win in life, or not to want to win as a coach. It’s just stupidity not to want to do that.”
“But I expect to do some amazing things (this season). … We have several players that I expect the very best from, and I expect to be able to count on them in so many different areas and facets of life.”
That starts on Thursday against one of the best teams in the FCS. The Buffs are the favorites, but the Bison will definitely not be overlooked.
“I have the utmost respect for (NDSU head coach Tim Polasek) and his program and what he has accomplished in his coaching career,” Coach Prime said. “This team will come to the game well prepared and disciplined.”
Coach Prime and his players will do the same, because as competitors they have been waiting for exactly this – and the new-look buffs are ready to go.
“Everybody wants to beat us and we want to beat everybody,” Coach Prime said. “(The players) know they’re on national television. They know the whole world is watching. … (There are NFL) scouts out there watching practice every day. They see that stuff. So no matter who you put on the roster, these guys want it. They want to go out there and dominate.”
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