Deion Sanders and Colorado is the talk of college football through the first four weeks of the season. The Buffaloes won just one game last year, hired Coach Prime, turned over 68 player on its roster, and rattled off three-straight wins over TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State as Big Noon Kickoff and College GameDay both made trips to Boulder.
Meanwhile, sportsbooks continue to hope that Colorado will lose. Sanders’ squad rattling off wins and covering the spread along the way is the worst case scenario for Vegas and its corresponding entities.
There is so much money on the Buffaloes in more ways than one. More people have bet on Colorado to win the national championship than any other team in the country, and Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are both popular picks to win the Heisman Trophy.
In addition, week-to-week, bettors continue to ride the hot hand and back Coach Prime in individual matchups. Saturday’s game against Oregon is no different.
The Buffaloes are 21-point underdogs. Most of the money is on Colorado to cover.
It would mark a huge loss for sportsbooks if the Ducks cannot win by 21 points or more. As a result, they are trying to minimize liability with the moneyline.
Let’s break it down!
Oregon’s spread is listed at -21 with the moneyline set at -870.
That is very different than other favorites of similar point value. To compare:
- Duke: -22 spread, -1830 ML
- Toledo: -21.5 spread, -1380 ML
- Washington: -20.5 spread, -1100 ML
- Nebraska: -20.5 spread, -1400 ML
Why are the Ducks at -870 when other teams are -1000 or greater? For two reasons.
First off, there are a lot of bettors who are taking Colorado to win outright, which moves the moneyline away from Oregon. Secondly, the sportsbooks are trying to cut down on potential losses.
By setting the Ducks moneyline at a lower number, it decreases the Buffaloes line. They are not as big of an underdog in terms of moneyline, which means that the sportsbooks will have to pay out less money if they pull of the massive upset win on the road.
Oregon is a top-10 team with legitimate national title hopes, but Colorado is buzzing. Everybody and their mothers are on the Buffs, which would prove costly for sportsbooks!