McFeely's Tip Sheet: Prime Time treatment means NDSU-Colorado could draw 10M TV viewers

There will likely be more eyeballs on North Dakota State's season-opening football game against Colorado and head coach Deion Sanders (or is it the other way around?) than any previous Bison sporting event. Are 10 million television viewers out of the question? Nope. There's at least a chance.

The Bison's football game in Boulder being moved to Thursday night likely means Colorado and NDSU will get the Prime Time treatment in more ways than one.

It's possible, likely even, the game will be carried by ESPN with the featured kickoff at 8 p.m. Central time. That means viewers, viewers and more viewers. A college football game in prime time on a Thursday night before the season fully opens, called by ESPN's lead announcing team of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, with the promotional power of the Worldwide Leader and the Prime Effect? OMG.

That would also make for the most-watched game involving a Football Championship Subdivision team in history.

There's a better-than-zero chance, too, Coach Prime (that's Sanders) turns this game into a circus, carnival, red-carpet, rock concert night by inviting all his A-list celebrity buddies which ESPN will welcome because it can show sideline shots of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jay-Z, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Garnett and who knows who else? Rapper Lil Wayne led the Buffaloes out of the tunnel prior to a game last season. Will Ferrell and LeBron James attended games last year, but that was USC visiting Colorado and those celebs have USC ties.

The Bison will be a bit player in the sideshow, but they'll be there. And NDSU will get plenty of broadcast love given their successful history in the FCS.

This we can say with (almost) 100% certainty: There will be more TV viewers watching this NDSU sporting event than any other in history.

The current record is the 6.2 million average viewers for the Bison-Duke NCAA men's basketball tournament game in March 2019. That was the featured evening game by CBS, called by Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery.

That far outstrips the NDSU football team's biggest TV numbers: 2.68 million who saw the Bison beat James Madison in the FCS title game in January 2020 on ABC.

Given what we know about Colorado's TV viewership numbers from a year ago, this game is likely to blow those figures out of the water.

Colorado largely because of the aura of Sanders had five of the top 25 most-watched college football games last season. We say largely because of Sanders for obvious reasons. The Buffs were 1-11 in 2022 and finished last season 4-8 after a hot start. People weren't tuning in for the football. That wanted to see the spectacle.

According to the Nielsen ratings:

Colorado vs. Oregon, Sept. 23, ABC: average of 10.03 million viewers.

Colorado vs. Colorado State, Sept. 16, ESPN, 9.30 million.

Colorado vs. Nebraska, Sept. 9, Fox, 8.73 million.

Colorado vs. Texas Christian, Sept. 2, Fox, 7.26 million.

Colorado vs. USC, Sept. 30, Fox, 7.24 million.

When the Buffs started losing, the shine wore off somewhat. Only ("only") 3.3 million watched their double-overtime loss to Stanford in October which was a 10 p.m. Eastern time kickoff on a Friday night.

NDSU doesn't have the splash of Oregon, Nebraska or USC. But given the game will serve as the kickoff to the college football season on ESPN on a Thursday night in prime time this is going to be must-see TV.

So there's a chance at 10 million TV viewers.

Something that probably won't happen, but if it does I'll look like a genius:

Let's go for it: NDSU-Colorado will draw 10 million television viewers.

Former Bison offensive lineman Jalen Sundell will be a surprise pick late in the NFL Draft this week. ... UND offensive line transfer Sam Hagen is interested in going to Montana, where Hagen's former position coach Joe Pawlak is the new offensive line coach. ... UND is displeased with the cuts Midco Sports made, laying off on-air talent who covered its broadcast partners. Athletic director Bill Chaves had no comment when the Tip Sheet asked him about it. ... Illinois State is the favorite to land West Fargo Sheyenne product and Northern State men's basketball transfer Jacksen Moni.

Omaha men's basketball transfer Frankie Fidler is going to Michigan State. He announced it Tuesday on social media. ... Former Bison running back Kobe Johnson appears ready to return for a sixth college season at Colorado State. Johnson played four years at NDSU without using a redshirt year, then suffered a season-ending injury at Colorado State last year and was able to use his redshirt. He was listed on the Rams' spring football roster. ... Former Bison safety Dom Jones will also play a second season at Colorado State. ... Ty Satter, a safety from Fargo Davies and son of Bison great Tony Satter, is no longer with the Bison football team. He graduated and moved on to start his career. ... Offensive lineman Trevor Fiecko and linebacker Josh Hendricks also weren't listed on the Bison's spring roster. Both had eligibility remaining. ... NFL Draft guru Dane Brugler had three South Dakota State players being selected this week in his final, seven-round mock draft posted at The Athletic. Brugler predicted guard Mason McCormick to go in the fourth round to the Minnesota Vikings with the 129th overall pick, tackle Garret Greenfield to go in the seventh round to the Kansas City Chiefs with the 221nd overall pick and running back Isaiah Davis to go in the seventh round to the Cleveland Browns with the 227th overall pick. ... Brugler has other Missouri Valley Football Conference players being drafted, including South Dakota cornerback Myles Harden going in the fifth round to the Arizona Cardinals and Northern Iowa defensive tackle Khristian Boyd also going in the fifth round to the Miami Dolphins.