College Football: Bookmakers Still Not Sold on Colorado Despite Win over TCU

After an offseason where over 50 players left the program, Colorado sent a message to the country that they are a force to be reckoned win. The Buffs opened with an upset win on the road against a TCU team that was in the National Championship Game last season. However, bookmakers still have them behind six other teams in the conference.

Colorado’s high-value odds is attracting a lot of bets to win the Pac-12, but is that the smart waer? Below we will cover Colorado’s tumultuous offseason, their impressive win, and how NCAAF betting sites view their chances to be crowned conference champions.

Few schools from power conferences have struggled in football as much as Colorado. The school has a long history in the sport, but they have been unable to compete in the Big 12 and Pac-12 over the last two decades. With the college football landscape quickly changing, Colorado decided to bring in Deion Sanders to help rebuild their floundering program.

Sanders had enjoyed historic success at Jackson State and came in promising big change. The hiring led to over 50 players entering the transfer portal, with many fearing they would no longer have a place on this new Buffs team. That led to a lot of transfers being brought into Colorado, building what is a completely different team that they had in 2022.

The overhaul of the Buffs’ left experts and fans unsure of what this team would look like, but that changed on Saturday. Colorado opened their game on the road against #17 TCU, who lost in last season’s National Championship Game. The Buffs looked like the better team the entire game, starting from their impressive touchdown on the opening drive.

The Colorado offense is going to be great. Shedeur Sanders, who is the coach’s son, threw for 510 yards and four touchdowns. Four different receivers finished with over 100 yards, and that was with a run game that was contained by TCU. Colorado’s offense was near unstoppable in the second half, which allowed them to hold off a charging TCU team.

The question now is how good Colorado’s defense will be. They started the game strong, but they did allow 28 points in the second half. That is good enough to beat a lot of teams in the Pac-12, but it will be a problem against the likes of USC and Utah.

Football betting sites reported more bets on Colorado to win a National Championship than any other team over the weekend. However, they have still have them outside of the top six favorites to win the Pac-12. While that has provided some high-value odds for bettors, it also shows that bookmakers aren’t sold on this team quite yet. Here are the current odds for the Buffs to win the Pac-12 from a few major sportsbooks:

• +5500 at FanDuel Sportsbook
• +3000 at DraftKings Sportsbook
• +1600 at bet365 Sportsbook
• +1500 at BetMGM Sportsbook

There are two reasons bookmakers aren’t adjusting Colorado’s odds quite yet. The first is that there are questions about how good TCU is. While they won a CFP game last season, they weren’t dominating opponents, but instead were winning close games.

In addition to questions over TCU, there is also the fact that no one knew what to expect from this team. The Buffs revamped roster and new coaching system had never been seen before, making it near impossible for TCU to prepare. Now that the nation has seen this Buffs’ team play, conference rivals will certainly adjust, which could lead to a regression coming this season.