There have been many changes during the offseason to the college football rules. There’s now a two-minute timeout, basically like the NFL’s two-minute warning, the NCAA has expanded the horse-collar tackle penalty to include tackles within the tackle box, plus the introduction of coach-to-player communications through the helmet, a move that aligns college football more closely with the NFL.
However, the coach-to-player communications rules do not apply to the FCS level. But, as noted by Big Ten analyst Guy Haberman, FCS teams are allowed to use these communications when playing FBS teams. Each program was given the opportunity to invest in the system, even if just for one game.
As Haberman noted on X, North Dakota State spent the money this offseason, just for this game on Thursday night against Colorado.
It should come as no surprise that NDSU is willing to make this investment ahead of this game vs. Colorado. The Bison know how to win. In the program’s history it has won 17 national championships, including nine Division I FCS titles since 2011. This is where Chris Klieman cut his teeth before he left for Kansas State. The new head coach understands the expectations. Tim Polasek was the offensive coordinator at Wyoming, where he worked for former NDSU boss Craig Bohl, before he returned to NDSU, where he worked for 10 years with Klieman and Matt Entz.
Colorado vs. North Dakota State kicks off on Thursday night on ESPN at 6:00 p.m. MT as Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes start the 2024 college football season in Boulder.
Despite this information, the betting public are all-in on the Buffaloes. The spread opened at Colorado -7 and has moved to Colorado -9.5.
Even tough CU went 4-8 overall in 2023, Colorado was one of the better teams against the spread in the country last season, going 7-4-1 against the spread.
