Alamo Bowl: Colorado vs. Texas odds, picks and prediction

Previewing Tuesday’s Colorado Buffaloes vs. Texas Longhorns Alamo Bowl odds and lines, with college football betting picks, tips and predictions.

The No. 24 Texas Longhorns (6-3, 5-3 Big 12) meet the Colorado Buffaloes (4-1, 3-1 Pac-12) in the Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday. The kickoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the Colorado-Texas college football betting odds and lines, with picks and predictions.

Rankings courtesy of the Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports.

Colorado vs. Texas: Betting odds, spread and lines

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 6:03 p.m. ET.

  • Money line: Colorado +275 (bet $100 to win $275) | Texas -350 (bet $350 to win $100)
  • Against the spread/ATS: Colorado +9 (-110) | Texas -9 (-110)
  • Over/Under: 65.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)

Colorado vs. Texas: Three things to know

  1. Colorado handed the keys to its football program to first-year head coach Karl Dorrell, who’s only previous head coaching experience was a five-year stint at another Pac-12 team in the UCLA Bruins (2003-07). For what it’s worth, Dorrell has a 1-3 bowl game record as a coach.
  2. Despite four underwhelming Longhorns seasons under head coach Tom Herman (31-18 overall record), which Texas fans are very grumpy about, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte insists Herman is the coach going forward. It’s noteworthy that Herman historically has Texas ready to go come bowl season and the Longhorns have won all three bowl games during his tenure, including last year’s Alamo Bowl.
  3. The elephant in the room—or Buffalo in this case—is that a four-win Colorado team is playing in a well-known bowl game against a high-profile football program. Obviously, Colorado’s season was heavily influenced by COVID-19 protocols. Texas lost pivotal games early on to TCU and Oklahoma, but the Longhorns won four of their last five games, including an overtime victory over then-No. 6 Oklahoma State on Halloween.

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Colorado vs. Texas: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks

Prediction

Texas 35, Colorado 31

Money line (ML)

I have a slight lean on Colorado (+275), but officially I’ll PASS. Texas senior QB Sam Ehlinger is undefeated in bowl games and the Longhorns have a much more explosive offense.

I just think there’s still enough value on Colorado plus the points and I generally like to sprinkle on the underdog’s money line when I’m taking them to cover the spread.

Against the spread (ATS)

There’s just a different vibe coming from each program.

Colorado is seemingly excited to play in a bowl game against one of the most popular football programs in the country while Texas administrators have to give votes of confidence for Herman, who hasn’t had a losing season at Texas.

No one was excited about Colorado or its new head coach coming into this year, but the Buffaloes are 4-1 straight up and ATS and their only loss was to a quality Utah program (38-21). Colorado was up 11 points early in the second half before the game went sideways and Utah put 28 unanswered points.

The Buffaloes have a higher net in third-down and red-zone scoring conversion percentages, and a higher net in time of possession. My one cause for concern is the fact we are getting here late. This game opened up with Colorado getting 12 points but the market is all over the Buffaloes and has dragged the number down 3 points.

I am BETTING COLORADO +9 (-110) for 1 unit.

Over/Under (O/U)

PASS.

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