UCLA vs. Colorado odds: Early point spread released on Bruins, Buffaloes

Week 9 of the college football season will showcase a Pac-12 veteran head coach going up against a fast-rising up-and-comer when the Colorado Buffaloes take on the UCLA Bruins. Due to the recent conference realignment, this will be the first and only showdown between The Buffaloes’ Deion Sanders and Bruins’ Chip Kelly as Pac-12 coaches.

The Week 9 matchup between Colorado and UCLA will also pit one of the conference’s top offenses against one of the best defenses. And as it currently stands, FanDuel has UCLA opening as a 17.5-point favorite over the Buffaloes in the matchup. The over/under is set at 63.5.

Colorado enters Week 9 after taking a break from action with a bye in Week 8. Before their bye week, the Buffaloes found themselves on the wrong end of an upset as they were stunned at home by the Stanford Cardinal, losing 46-43 in overtime. That dropped Colorado to 4-3 on the season and 1-3 in conference play.

Colorado star quarterback and son of their head coach, Shedeur Sanders, has been lights out this season. With him under center, the Buffaloes have the third-best passing attack in the country, averaging 346.1 yards through the air per contest. Through their first seven games, Sanders has completed 72.3 percent of his pass attempts (219-303) for 2420 yards, 24 total touchdowns, and just three interceptions.

While Colorado had the weekend off, UCLA was in action against the same team that just took down the Buffaloes: Stanford. Against the Cardinal, the Bruins’ defense stuffed Stanford’s offense on the way to a 42-7 win.

With the win, UCLA moved to 5-2 on the season and 2-2 in the Pac-12. As mentioned above, the Bruins’ defense has been pivotal to their success this season. UCLA’s defense is 11th in the country in yards allowed and is only behind Oregon in the Pac-12 in passing and scoring defense. But for as good as their defense is, so is UCLA’s rushing attack. Running backs Carson Steele and T.J. Harden have been a nightmare for opponents to slow down, much less stop.

ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the home time, UCLA, a 78.9 percent chance to come out of Week 9 victorious. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 PM ET kickoff time on October 28. You can catch all the action on ABC or on the ESPN app.