Colorado Buffaloes vs Colorado State Rams Preview, Odds 8/31/18

College Football action on Friday evening and the Mountain West Conference will duke it out with the Pac-12 Conference as the Colorado State Rams rumble with the Colorado Buffaloes. This game has a start time of 9:30 PM ET and will take place at Broncos Stadium at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. Last year, Colorado won at home by a score of 17-3.

Lines:  Colorado -7.5… Over/Under 65.5

About Colorado State

The Colorado State Rams laid an egg in their opener as they lost to Hawaii at home by a score of 43-34. The Rams were 17 point favorites in that game. They must now try and get back on track against an underrated Colorado squad. The rams just had no answer for the Hawaii offense last week as they allowed the Rainbow Warriors to pile up 617 yards of total offense. They have just five starters back on that side of the ball and it really looked like a young defense. Improvements are usually made from game one to game two and the Rams are hoping that is the case here or it will be another long game for them.  

The offense had a very good showing, but it took them a while to get going. The Rams were down 37-7 before their offense figured out they were playing a game. The Rams outscored Hawaii 27-6 the rest of the way. They piled up 653 yards of total offense and K.J. Carta-Samuels had a monster game. He hit 34 of 50 passes for 537 yards with five TDs and just one INT. In three years at Washington, he hit 27 of 47 passes for 310 yards with three TDs and one INT. He will be taking aim at a decent Colorado secondary in this one. Preston Williams had 188 yards receiving and 2 TDs, while Olabisi Johnson had 157 yards receiving and 2 TDs. This is a good offense, but the defense looks poor.  

About Colorado

Two years, ago, the Colorado Buffaloes were in the Pac-12 title game, but last year it was back to losing for them. They went 5-7 a year ago and have just 10 starters back from that team. They have been recruiting well and they are taking on a Rams team that did not look that good for much of the game against a bad Hawaii squad. The offense has just four starters back, but one of them is QB Steven Montez. He threw for 2975 yards with 18 TDs and nine INTs a year ago. The wide receiver corps is rather thin and they do lose a 1400-yard back in Phillip Lindsay. Still, this offense could have a good showing against a Colorado State defense that was shredded a week ago.

On defense, the Buffaloes allowed 28.2 ppg a year ago and could improve on that this year. The Buffaloes have their top three tacklers back and six starters overall on this side of the ball. They will be led by a scold secondary, which is led by Evan Worthington, who broke up six passes and had three INTs a year ago. Their defensive backfield will really be tested by a Rams team that threw for 537 yards last week. The defense played well in last year’s game as they held the Rams to just three points. Colorado won the game 17-3, despite being outgained 397-347.     

Trends

Colorado State is:

16-7-1 ATS in their last 24 non-conference games

0-6 ATS in their last 6 games following an ATS loss

The Over is 4-1 in their last 5 games after accumulating more than 450 total yards in their previous game

Colorado is:

3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 vs. the MWC

3-8-1 ATS in their last 12 games on grass

The Under is 13-3 in their last 16 vs. the MWC