Tag: Colorado football betting

It seems like Colorado’s overtime win against Oregon State didn’t do the Buffs many favors in building outsider confidence. Now going up against the 5-4 UCLA Bruins, the Buffs are 17.5-point underdogs as of Thursday per Tipico Sportsbook.

This surprised me somewhat with just how bumpy UCLA’s season has been. After upsetting LSU in Week 2, the Bruins haven’t had any impressive wins since then. They’ve also lost to Fresno State, Arizona State, Oregon and most recently, Utah. UCLA was, however, missing veteran quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson in that game. But following last week’s bye, he appears likely to play against CU. That is a large reason why UCLA is now so heavily favored.

With DTR back in the fold, UCLA’s point total Over/Under sits at 37.5. The Bruins haven’t scored more than 37 points since their beating LSU 38-27. If you care for my opinion, I see 37.5 as a big number to reach with the possible impacts of DTR’s thumb injury. Colorado’s defense has struggled recently, though, and will probably be without Nate Landman again.

Looking at Colorado’s offense, there’s still little love for what the Buffs have done the past two weeks. Scoring 29 at Oregon and then 37 against Oregon State (albeit in overtime) didn’t translate significantly for bettors in this UCLA matchup. Colorado’s Over/Under sits at 19.5 against a Bruins’ defense that has allowed the ninth most points per game in the Pac-12. Give me the Over!

The points combined Over/Under is at a sturdy 57.5.

All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook

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The Colorado Buffaloes opened as 28-point underdogs against the spread in their matchup on the road against the Oregon Ducks this weekend.

As we wrote earlier this week, that line quickly moved down off the opener all the way to as low as 23.5 on the Tipico Sportsbook.

After Nate Landman was ruled “likely” out on Wednesday, the line settled at 24.5 where it currently sits now on Tipico.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to note that 24 is a key number in football. If you are placing money on Oregon, you would much rather be laying 23.5 than 24.5 just based on a pure comfort standpoint.

I don’t think it will matter in this game as Oregon will win in a rout. The last time these two teams played was in 2019 when Colorado was a better team and Oregon was just beginning to peak. The Ducks won 45-3 and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar score on Saturday.

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My biggest worry for the Buffaloes is the matchup with Oregon’s defensive line and linebackers. I just don’t see how CU can possibly slow them as its offensive line has been abysmal throughout the season. Yes, Colorado fired the offensive line coach to try to reignite the hog mollies up front. But if that was going to make an impact, it’s hard for that to happen during the first week against the best pass rusher in the country.

Kayvon Thibodeaux will get to do whatever he wants in this football game and I don’t see how Colorado will be able to move the football when they’ve shown an inability to do so all season long.

On the defensive side of the ball, Colorado has been very stout through the middle so far this season. Mostly due to Landman and with him out, Oregon should be able to have its way with the CU defense.

Landman out is a bigger deal than the adjustment the sportsbooks made with him being out. When he went out against Cal last week, the Bears drove right down the field late in the first half. When he went out last season with the torn Achilles, Colorado became a completely different football team.

I also think Oregon will be able to use its speed at the skill positions to expose CU out on the edge.

I already played Oregon -24. I would also play Oregon first half at -14 or less. And I would consider the Colorado team total Under anything at 10.5 or above.

All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook

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The spread for the matchup between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Oregon Ducks has seen a lot of early movement.

And likely in the direction CU fans would not expect.

Oregon opened as a 28-point favorite on most betting sites, that number is already down to 23.5 on the Tipico Sportsbook.

So why all of the early line movement?

For one, the majority of the early money has been coming in on the Buffaloes. Popular betting information sites are reporting over 60% of the money so far is on the Buffs while the public is split closer to 50-50.

Early money almost always tends to be sharp money barring unforeseen circumstances. Sharp money means it’s typically the professional bettors that are putting money on Colorado.

But why?

Anybody that has watched CU play football for the last month or so is likely asking that question.

Oregon has struggled a bit in recent weeks since losing to Stanford in overtime, they’ve only won their last two games by one score. But I was actually impressed with the Ducks’ performance this past week against UCLA.

They seem to be getting back to being fully healthy. The loss of CJ Verdell at running back doesn’t seem to be as damaging with Travis Dye running all over the UCLA defense.

And Kayvon Thibodeaux just played his first complete game of the season, earning him the Pac-12 Defensive and Defensive Lineman of the Week and the Chuck Bednarik National Player of the Week award. He racked up nine tackles (4.5 for a loss), two sacks and a forced fumble in Oregon’s win at UCLA.

How is the Colorado offensive line (which just fired its coach) supposed to stop Thibodeaux?

I assume the sharp bettors are considering Oregon’s offense and wondering if they have the ability to put up enough points to cover the 24-point spread.

Oregon hasn’t covered the spread as a favorite yet this season but they are 7-3 against the spread in the last 10 games against Colorado.

All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook

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