After a brutal 28-10 beatdown at the hands of now-No. 23 Nebraska, Colorado and coach Deion Sanders hope to bounce back with a road victory on Saturday in the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

Last season, the Buffs beat their in-state rival in an overtime thriller, extending their record to 3-0, before losing eight of their final nine games.

Can Colorado shake off its road loss to the Cornhuskers and grab a much-needed win? Or will the Centennial Cup exchange hands and stay in Fort Collins after the game?

Let’s break down Saturday’s matchup and see where the betting value lies for Colorado vs. Colorado State.

Colorado vs. Colorado State odds

Team	Spread	Moneyline	Total
Colorado	-7 (-112)	-278	o57.5 (-108)
Colorado State	+7 (-108)	+225	u57.5 (-112)

Colorado vs. Colorado State prediction

And just like that, the Buffaloes are back to where they were this time last season, allowing quarterback Shedeur Sanders to get pressured way too often, gaining virtually no yards in the running game and giving up an abundance of points to opposing teams.

Last week, Nebraska manhandled the Buffs; there is no gentler way to put it. 

And matters for Colorado only worsened when safety Shilo Sanders, forced out of the game due to a forearm injury, had surgery. Deion Sanders, Shilo’s father, optimistically put a two-to-three-week timetable on his son’s return.

Meanwhile, the Rams recovered from their 52-0 loss to Texas with a Week 2 win against Northern Colorado. It was a much-needed confidence boost in need of one after the Longhorns had ripped it away.

Colorado State returned some substantial pieces from last season’s 5-7 team, including quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and star wide receiver Tory Horton, who suffered a minor lower-body injury during last week’s win over UNC.

(Rams coach Jay Norvell believes Horton will be available on Saturday, so we won’t emphasize it much in this betting guide). 

Colorado seems to be unraveling for a second consecutive season, as Sanders just outwardly blamed his offensive line for the five sacks and countless pressures in the Nebraska game. 

Further, the defense has shown little improvement year over year and will now enter this rivalry game without Shilo Sanders, one of its best defensive players. 

The Buffs are too one-dimensional offensively, relying almost exclusively on Shedeur Sanders’ arm talent and scrambling ability and wide receiver Travis Hunter’s playmaking to score points. 

Opponents know Colorado doesn’t want to run the ball. The Buffs ranked last in rushing yards per game last season and have done virtually nothing to improve on that in 2024.

They rushed for 59 yards in their opener against FCS North Dakota State and just 16 last week against the Huskers after falling behind early.

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That has made the Buffs an easy team to game-plan for and much more predictable than they were at this time last year. 

I’ll gladly take 7.5 points at plus money with the Rams on their field.

Pick: Colorado State +7.5 (+100, FanDuel)

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Why Trust New York Post Betting

Andrew Norton handicaps the NBA, WNBA, NFL, college basketball and football, UFC and golf. During the 2022-23 NBA season, he achieved a standout 14.1% ROI, cashing 60% of his NBA spread picks and leading Tallysight in its SportsIQ metric.