BOULDER — If you can’t rely on your run game to beat North Dakota State, can Do you trust it?

Why throw it away with 1:41 left on the clock when the Bisons still had a timeout in reserve?

What happens when the CU Buffs face someone their own size?

“Have you ever felt like you won,” Buffs coach Deion Sanders said after CU defeated NDSU 31-26 in a primetime season opener at Folsom Field, “but you didn’t win?”

Down by six with a minute to go, there’s no quarterback in the country you’d rather have the ball in his hands than Shedeur Sanders. Up by five with 1:40 to go, there are few QB1s that make you more nervous about what’s coming next.

Travis Hunter is magic. Shedeur is stronger than a pair of John Dutton cowboy boots. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur pushed the pace to get a lead, then chewed up the clock to make sure the Buffs held on to it. New defensive coordinator Robert Livingston’s adjustments nearly shutout CU in the second half.

Nebraska Week comes early this year, and thank goodness for it. But if Coach Prime messes up with game management in Lincoln, he’s asking for a Big Red headache.

CU can’t help it. Names change. Coaches change. The Buffs are who they are. Win or lose with Shedeur Sanders, the clock can be damned. Take it or leave it.

While you were screaming at Coach Prime to run the ball with CU for five points and win this game, the Buffs quarterback threw it four times. CU punted it back to North Dakota State with 31 seconds left.

“One step closer to the bowl game!” Sanders said over the stadium’s sound system to superfan Peggy Coppom.

One fun, crazy, wobbly step.

NDSU is two parts combative, one part stubborn. But talent-wise, this wasn’t a fair fight. Next September, Hunter plays on Sunday. NDSU is two parts combative, one part stubborn. But talent-wise, this wasn’t a fair fight. Next September, Hunter plays on Sunday. The guys who gave it their all in the North Dakota State secondary, the ones who ate Hunter’s dust for three hours? They’ll be debating with their fantasy league brethren over who gets to pick No. 12 first.

The south side of the Folsom press box was standing room only. Eighteen NFL teams sent 29 scouts to Boulder. They weren’t there for the team in green. The Buffs have two top-10 draft picks. The Bison, bless them … don’t do that.

Still, CU pitched a third-quarter shutout in Week 1, something it accomplished just once in 12 tries last fall. You could see some really good adjustments being made, and they were paying off in real time. Shurmur took a lead and had a plan to make sure CU didn’t blow it. Livingston made the Bisons’ tight ends, a sore spot for the first half of the game, a nonfactor in the final period.