Colorado vs. Colorado State point spread: Picking Buffaloes vs. Rams

The college football world will turn its attention to Boulder this week as Deion Sanders and his new-look Colorado team take on in-state rival Colorado State. The Buffaloes have been the talk of college football this year after two impressive wins to start the season, and they’re a heavy favorite against CSU in Week 3.

Colorado is a 22.5-point favorite over Colorado State, according to FanDuel. But On3’s Andy Staples and Never Punt, Never Parlay’s Parker Fleming pointed the point total, which is set at 59.5, and explained why that might be even more enticing than the point spread.

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“I don’t know if there’s any reason one, that Colorado can’t score at will against this Colorado State defense. And two, Coach Prime knows about the Heisman race involves Heisman moments,” Fleming said on Andy Staples On3. “And here, you’ve got GameDay there, you’ve got a big opportunity for both Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders to put up astronomical numbers. I don’t think he has any intention of taking his foot off the gas. So definitely, definitely a strong lean to the over here even as we talk rationally about Colorado after that.”

That said, Colorado State’s offense might not present too much of a challenge. So, even though Colorado might not have entirely proved itself on defense just yet, Fleming said it could be an intriguing play.

“Colorado State really does not feel like they can get [Tory] Horton on the ball consistently enough that he is any kind of threat on offense, and they’re very one-dimensional,” Fleming said. “So don’t see them challenging a Colorado defense that I’m still uncertain on. And I think that Colorado is just going to be able to score left and right here. I always hate picking a big spread here. But if I’m going to take the over, I’m going to be okay taking the big spread and the favorite, as well.”

Could there be a ‘look-ahead factor’ in Colorado vs. Colorado State?

Seemingly every pregame show in the country — from College GameDay to Big Noon Kickoff — will be in Boulder for Colorado vs. Colorado State. But could there be more chatter about next week’s game than this one?

Staples argued that could be in play considering the Buffs will play their first Pac-12 game of the year in Week 4 against Oregon. In addition, it’ll be interesting to see how Sanders approaches a lead considering the amount of eyes on Saturday night’s game.

While Staples picked Colorado to cover, he’s also confident in the over.

“There’s a look-ahead factor here because obviously, Colorado has to play at Oregon next week,” Staples said. “But we talk about a spread with an overmatched team — and I think Colorado State feels overmatched in this one. We don’t know what Deion’s gonna do with a lead. He kept pouring it on against Nebraska. Like, does he put subs in to get them some experience? I would assume he will. But I don’t know what he’s gonna do. He may be trying to make a point with everybody there. So this one’s tricky.

“But I will take them to cover, and I do think this game’s going over, for sure. Because they’re pick-your-poison on offense, and I think they probably will try to spread the ball around quite a bit. It was interesting last week because Weaver got most of the action. They tried to force feed [Jimmy] Horn, but he just couldn’t get going in terms of YAC yards. But Dylan Edwards did not have as big a game catching the ball out of the backfield. I would imagine against a team like Colorado State, he’ll have more success, as well. So this will be one where I think we’ll all watch GameDay to see the scene and all that and the interviews. I don’t know how much of a game we’re gonna end up watching.”

What would a blowout victory for Colorado mean for the Oregon game, exactly? Well, it’s safe to say people will start picking the Buffaloes. That’s why Fleming predicted there could be some value on the Ducks in that matchup.

“The hype is — I mean, Prime is someone who’s uniquely equipped to deal with it and keep those guys locked in,” Fleming said. “What’s interesting here from this angle, more so than one, again, just watching football, I’d really like it. I’m watching Colorado. If Colorado comes out of wins this thing like 62-3 or something, I think there’s gonna be a ton of value on Oregon next week. I think that we’re gonna get out in front of our skis there and there’s gonna be a lot of opportunity for Oregon to be an interesting play next week, as well. So keep an eye on that.”