Who can forget the Colorado Buffaloes taking college football by storm last year and upsetting national runner-up TCU as a 20.5-point underdog in Week 1?
It was an unbelievable beginning for the Deion Sanders era.
That thrilling victory catapulted Colorado into an even bigger spotlight, as the Buffs went on to be a part of FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff” for three straight weeks to open the 2023 campaign.
Life was good in Boulder … until it wasn’t.
Superstars Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are back for Act II and this year’s squad won’t be sneaking up on anybody, especially in the betting markets.
The black and gold opened as an 8.5-point favorite against North Dakota State and after an initial push on the Bison, a wave of Colorado cash has entered the fray.
“You knew it was coming,” one professional bettor told FOX Sports. “I snagged some Colorado -7.5 a few weeks ago because you just knew that money would show. I didn’t know if it would get back to -10, but here we are.”
Colorado is currently -10 with a total of 60 on Thursday night.
“My ratings are closer to Colorado -13,” the bettor continued. “They’ve got better players at almost every position and they’re healthy. Deion also doesn’t get enough credit for his coaching. Outside of the Oregon game last year, they were competitive in every game. Then the offensive line fell apart.
“I like them early this year, but I’m ready to run for the hills when injuries pile up or the losing begins. I don’t know if the program can handle failure.”
Long-time Las Vegas oddsmaker Kenny White helped me with a story this summer about the rise of Colorado’s power rating. White explained how he rated Colorado at 81.5 when Deion took over in December 2022.
A “100” rating is average in White’s system.
What should the expectations be for Deion Sanders this season?
As of right now, White has Colorado at 112, good for 36th-best in the country. Oregon (129.5) and Georgia (129.5) sit atop his ratings with Ohio State (128.5) right on their heels, then Texas (127), Penn State (125) and Ole Miss (124.5).
A 30-point improvement in 20 months is almost impossible.
“Deion knows how to bring in talent,” White told FOX Sports. “It’s tough to imagine them taking a step back with all the new talent, plus Sanders and Hunter are both back. Plus, Deion overachieved to the betting number. Colorado finished 7-4 against the spread, which is impressive.”
I’m far from the biggest Colorado fan in the world, but I do believe its speed, skill and talent is substantially better than North Dakota State’s. It’s extremely rare that the Bison are catching this many points, but the market tells a story.
There’s been no shortage of Buffaloes bets recently and these are the most sizable bets to date because limits are highest the week of a game. I refuse to get ahead of myself and proclaim Colorado is a bowl team or anything beyond that, but this appears to be a decent spot for Deion’s bunch to show out.
I’ll co-sign on Colorado -10 in its opener.
Sam Panayotovich is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and NESN. He previously worked for WGN Radio, NBC Sports and VSiN. Follow him on Twitter @spshoot.
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