Colorado vs Utah Odds, Picks, and Predictions: Playing for Pride

Coach Prime’s first year in Boulder will come to an end on Saturday as the Colorado Buffaloes visit the Utah Utes for their season finale.

Colorado (4-7) has dropped five straight games down the stretch, and the college football odds are making the Buffaloes a huge underdog on Saturday. Utah (7-4) has dropped three of their last four, taking the Utes out of contention for a conference title in their final year in the Pac-12.

White the Buffaloes weren’t able to keep up their hot start early in the season, they have managed to play close against some quality opponents throughout the year. We’ll talk about whether they can cover the massive spread on Saturday’s game in our free college football picks and predictions for Colorado vs. Utah on November 23.

Colorado vs Utah best odds

Colorado vs Utah picks and predictions

Remember when the Colorado Buffaloes got off to that 3-0 start that had the entire college football world buzzing? In retrospect, there was a bit of smoke and mirrors involved in that: the TCU Horned Frogs aren’t all that good, and the Buffaloes needed overtime to beat the rival Colorado State Rams. Since then, the dreams of a complete turnaround in Boulder have evaporated – though Deion Sanders has still taken a 1-11 team and brought it back to respectability.

The Buffaloes have another tough test to wrap up the season. The Utah Utes may have lost three of four, but the Utes are still a borderline top-25 team and have a strong defensive unit. However, they’ve been suffering from injuries on that side of the ball, with two starters missing last week’s loss to the Arizona Wildcats. Both linebacker Karene Reid and safety Cole Bishop are now questionable for this Saturday’s game.

That showed up last week, as Utah gave its worst defensive performance of the season. Not only did the Utes allow a season-worst 42 points, but they did so against Arizona after doing a much better job containing more explosive Pac-12 offenses like the Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks.

If the Utes give a similar performance on Saturday, this game could be a lot more interesting than expected. For all of Colorado’s faults, it has proven that it can score points. The Buffaloes are scoring a solid 29.2 points per game, with Shedeur Sanders throwing for an incredible 27 touchdowns with just three interceptions on the year despite taking 52 sacks.

That’s not to say that Colorado is about to win this game. Utah has won the last six games in this matchup for a reason, and the Utes are easily the more talented team at virtually every position other than quarterback. However, the Buffaloes have lost five games this season by less than two touchdowns. Last week’s 42-point drubbing by the Washington State Cougars was embarrassing but was caused largely by unusual plays like two fumbles and a kickoff all returned for touchdowns.

Against Utah, Colorado is getting more than three scores. The Buffaloes have shown an ability to play with pride and refuse to be blown out when they’re supposed to lose badly. The Utes will win this game, but the massive spread here is just too big given what we’ve seen from both teams all year long. I’m taking Colorado and all the points I can get.

My best bet: Colorado +23.5 (-110 at DraftKings)
Picks made at time of writing may not reflect live odds.

Colorado vs Utah same-game parlay

Colorado +23.5

Over 51 points

Colorado Over 7.5 first-half points

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+390 at DraftKings

The big spread on this game is just too much for me to turn down, so I’m starting with Colorado +23.5 as the basis for my same-game parlay. To go with that, I’m taking the Over at 51 points. If Utah has the same defensive issues we saw last week, this should be something of a shootout, as the Buffaloes have no shot at stopping the Utes from putting up points.

In addition, I’m going to take Colorado to score Over 7.5 points in the first half. This goes hand-in-hand with my expectation for the entire game, but it’s also something I was surprised to find added significant value to my SGP despite the fact that it correlates strongly with the other two bets. It’s almost impossible for Colorado to cover and the game to hit the Over if the Buffaloes are held to a touchdown or less in the first half, so this is a pure value play – and one I expect them to hit easily.

Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.

Colorado vs Utah spread and Over/Under analysis

Utah opened this game as a 22-point favorite. There’s no consensus line as of Thursday afternoon, as I saw lines ranging from Utah -21.5 to Utah -23.5 at different books. That makes line shopping key for this game, especially if you can do so before these numbers start to converge.

Both teams have been solid against the spread this year. Utah and Colorado have identical 6-4-1 ATS marks on the season, with each covering in two of their last three games.

This number is massive given how much Utah has struggled lately and the way their defense struggled against Arizona last week. I suspect that the books are overreacting a bit to Colorado’s blowout loss, as that game certainly looked ugly. However, a closer look suggests that the score was embellished by some fluke plays. Colorado isn’t a good football team overall, but this is too many points, so I’m taking the Buffaloes.

The total in this game opened at 52.5 points. There’s been a downward trend on the Over/Under, with most sites now setting it anywhere from 51 to 52 points. Both sides of the market are available at or around -110 on any of those numbers.

Colorado has been an explosive offensive team without much help on defense, yet the Over only holds a 6-5 edge when the Buffaloes play. Similarly, the Utes have been a defensive-minded squad this year, but that hasn’t borne out against the total, where the Under has put up just a 6-5 mark.

Going into this game, you’d assume that Colorado is likely to play above this reasonable number, with Utah inclined to go under it. But the Utes have played to a total of at least 58 points in each of their last three games, while Colorado has played to at least 65 points in its last two matchups. With Utah’s defensive question marks and the fact that the Buffaloes haven’t played much defense all year, I’m leaning toward the Over.

Colorado vs Utah betting trend to know

Colorado is 3-1 ATS in their last four games overall. Find more college football betting trends for Colorado vs Utah.

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