Colorado-North Dakota State football opener moved to Thursday, August 29

Buffs and Bison will be featured as one of the nation's first games in 2024

Oct 7, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders against the Arizona / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The start of Deion Sanders' second season in Boulder will come earlier than expected.

Colorado's season opener against North Dakota State has been moved to Thursday, August 29, according to CU athletics on Monday. Game time and television is TBA, but will likely be part of network coverage for either FOX or ESPN.

This marks the first matchup between Coach Prime's Buffs and the FCS powerhouse. The Bison have etched out 17 National Championships and 37 conference championships, nine of them over the past 14 years. This will be the first year under coach Tim Polasek, who was the offensive coordinator and QB coach at Wyoming. He even mentioned the opportunity to beat Colorado in his introductory press conference

The Buffaloes improved to a 4-8 record in Sanders' first haul in Boulder. What goes unnoticed is five of the eight losses were decided by one score. Shedeur Sanders will look to improve after a record-setting year under center. CU's "Grown" passer is noted as a pre-season favorite for many awards. He'll have a pair of returning targets back in Boulder with his, including the nation's most electrifying star Travis Hunter.

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Colorado is 31-20-2 on Thursday games in its history but have played just five in the past 32 seasons, including two at home, with the most recent home game against Arizona State in the 2012 season, according to CU athletics. The Buffs are 7-3 in home Thursday games with modern era wins against Stanford in 1990 and West Virginia in 2008.

The biggest takeaway for the Buffs is that they'll have two extra days before heading to Lincoln for a Red Letter Rivalry game with Nebraska on Sept. 7.