Saturday, Oct. 12
10:15 p.m. Eastern, 7:15 p.m. Pacific
Fox
The Colorado Buffaloes have been better than most people expected this season. Yet, one cannot shake the sense that the laws of averages are about to come back and hit this team hard. Keep in mind that one of Colorado’s wins this season was a game in which the Buffaloes, trailing by seven points, scored on a Hail Mary touchdown with no time left to send the game into overtime and eventually win. Colorado also benefited from UCF playing an atrocious game in a 48-21 romp over the Knights. Keep in mind that UCF just turned around and lost to Florida. UCF got smoked by a coach, Billy Napier, who is almost certain to be fired before the end of 2024. UCF might be far worse than we thought.
The idea that Colorado is a good team doesn’t yet seem to be warranted, based on everything we have seen. The record is better than expected, but the overall quality is still very much in question. To be fair to Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes, however, if they beat Kansas State and Chris Klieman, they will earn a ton of respect. It will be impossible to claim CU is not a good team. This could be the defining moment of Coach Prime’s 2024 season in Boulder. It’s also a very important game for a Kansas State team which lost on the road in a night game at BYU earlier this season and needs to show it can handle a daunting road environment.
Kansas State Wildcats-Colorado Buffaloes Odds
Spread: Kansas State -5 (-110), Colorado +5 (-110)
Total: 56.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: Colorado +150
Hear T.J. give thoughts on this game and other underdogs this week on the “3 Dog Thursday Podcast” by clicking play below,
Colorado a home underdog?
The coaching matchup is hard to ignore in this game. Chris Klieman is widely regarded as one of the better coaches in college football, with great attention to detail and an ability to get his teams to consistently play with the level of force and physicality needed to win at the line of scrimmage. Deion Sanders has not recruited or portaled well enough to give Colorado elite line play. The Buffaloes did not outplay Baylor on the lines, and Baylor is a below-average team. Colorado did outplay UCF up front, but again, UCF just lost decisively to Florida and looks a lot worse than most people expected at the start of the season.
One result people shouldn’t forget about in 2024 was Nebraska hammering Colorado in Lincoln. Nebraska is not a bad team, but it isn’t an especially good team, either. The Huskers lost at home to Illinois and struggled for two and a half quarters versus a terrible Purdue squad. If you think Kansas State is at least as good as Nebraska, if not better, you should ride with the Wildcats in this game. If, however, KSU’s road loss at BYU – in which the Wildcats did not handle road-game pressure very well and committed a lot of turnovers – is an indicator of how well Kansas State is going to play in this game, then you can choose the Buffs and take them against the spread, maybe even to win outright.