Ram Tough

We brought in the first Saturday of the college football season with a bang!

Not only did we nail the Buffalo-Nebraska game posted in this section, but also offered to our players the North Carolina State-Louisiana Tech game going under as well as Wyoming staying well within the 31½ against Nebraska. 

It's a much lighter Sunday menu of football, but does include heated rivals Colorado and Colorado State.

Bovada has the Rams as a field-goal favorite, and by using the data tool on the Home page, you'll see that makes perfect sense, based on the fact that seven of the last 10 in this series have been decided by a touchdown or less.

Having said that, CSU may be at least a touchdown better than Colorado, and I expect them to cover the three.

The Rams not only covered the number in three of their final five games last season, but won three outright down the stretch for first year coach Jim McElwain.

Colorado State's backfield features returning ball carriers Chris Nwoke and Donnell Alexander, who both have made significant contributions to the Ram rushing attack over the last couple seasons. That includes Nwoke's 2011 season, where he eclipsed 2000 yards rushing. The Rams will actually have three running backs in the rotation, and the shuffling in and out of fresh legs does not bode well for an inexperienced Colorado linebacking crew.

And as much as the Buffs would like to forget it, it should be remembered by bettors that CU allowed an almost unfathomable 46 points per game last season.

Colorado does provide some talent at the skill positions, including quarterback Connor Wood. But he, at this point, is still raw talent and will work behind a highly suspect offensive line. 

I don't know that a blowout is in order here, but I do see Colorado State hovering around a touchdown margin or maybe even double digits when the final horn sounds. 

My pick: Colorado State   -3

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UPDATE:

Result ... Colorado 41 Colorado State 27     Buffaloes cover

Steve Soprano is the founder and handicapper at www.premierticketsports.com