Take Colorado Despite Line Movement

Colorado vs. Arizona State, 6:30 ET

There aren't too many teams in the nation that have seen more national coverage than one of the squads in this matchup. I suppose that's what happens when you have a famous coach and one that has a larger-than-life personality. So far though, a team that many thought (including me) would need time to gel, has worked together. Now, the Colorado Buffaloes take on the Arizona State Sun Devils.

In what was somewhat expected to be a rebuilding year, the Buffaloes have been able to produce noise and put teams on notice. They jumped out to three straight wins to start the year including the wild win over TCU where they were 20+ point dogs in the game. Then they took down Nebraska and people started to kind of clamor that maybe they were significantly better than expected. Colorado State took them to overtime but the Buffaloes prevailed. Then the Oregon game came and they were absolutely embarrassed, and to Oregon's credit, they did their own talking but also backed it up. Maybe they were sick of the attention Colorado was getting, maybe it was something different, but they are certainly trying to brew a rivalry. To the Buffaloes credit, they responded last week with a 48-41 loss to a tough and talented USC team. The bottom line is this squad isn't going to just go away. They are better than expected and finding ways to keep themselves in most games. I've been impressed with quarterback Shedeur Sanders who already has 1,781 passing yards and 15 touchdowns on the year. They still make some silly mistakes that come with being a young team, but the good news is that this week they face a team that is rebuilding and should make silly mistakes as well.

Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders after the USC loss

Arizona State is still somewhat searching for an identity. Maybe it is that they are just searching for a positive identity. The program is under new leadership and unfortunately, doesn't really have much going for it right now that they can even build on. They don't have much of a running game to speak of, and their passing game is leaving a lot to be desired. The good news is that Colorado's defense is not very good, so even the average passing game and running game of Arizona State should be able to make an impact. My guess is that they will be able to put up some points in this one. Something they've struggled to do all season as they have only scored 28 points once this season and are averaging just 17.6 points per game. The Buffaloes have only held opponents to under 35 points once this season. I'm not quite sure that I have confidence in Arizona State to stop Colorado though either. I don't think they will have an answer for Sanders and I think most of the Colorado team likes to keep the pressure up and keep the ball moving no matter what the score is.

This game is probably going to go over, but I think the better play is to take Colorado -3.5 in the game. It seems a bit strange to me that aside from being on the road, Colorado has gone from a 5.5 favorite down to 3.5. I don't agree with it. Even if we compare how both teams did against USC, we see that Colorado put up a better fight. Sure, the Buffaloes have a lot of searching to do in hopes of finding answers for their defensive struggle, but they should be able to win this game by a touchdown or more.

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