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David Purdum, ESPN staff writer
Betting interest on Deion Sanders in Colorado Buffaloes was phenomenal early last season, bookmakers say, and it appears to be happening again.
College football kicks into high gear this week with a slate featuring openers between perennial powers like Georgia-Clemson, Notre Dame-Texas A&M and LSU-USC. But to start the week, the game that drew the most betting interest on DraftKings was North Dakota State-Colorado.
The Buffaloes, entering their second season under Sanders, are again big long shots, listed at 200-1 to win the national championship on ESPN BET, but they are popular with the betting public. BetMGM reports that entering the season, Colorado will lose more money than any team other than Ohio State to win the national championship. Betting $10,000 on the Buffaloes to win the Big 12 in their first year in the conference is Colorado’s first notable move at BetMGM.
Still, bookmakers say early bets on Buffalo this season, though elevated, are not at the same level as last season. Steve Mickelson, who has been in the bookmaking industry since 1987, said he’s never seen the betting public fall in love with a college football long shot like it did with the Buffaloes early last season.
“It shocked me, to be honest,” Mickelson told ESPN.
The frenzy lasted through the first four weeks of last season, creating golden opportunities for NFL-sized betting handles and professional bettors. Colorado opened as a 21-point underdog with an upset of TCU, a game that resulted in the biggest loss of the season for the playbook.
“Every week, they were our biggest liability,” Cameron Drucker, senior trader at BetMGM, said. “It’s the first thing that’s happened in a while, where a team has publicly bet every week.”
Colorado followed that up with a win over Nebraska in a game that drew more money from bettors than many NFL Week 1 contests, a rarity according to bookmakers.
“We weren’t that nervous, but once they beat Nebraska, it was, ‘Whoa, hold on a second,'” said Mickelson, who oversees odds for BetMonarch Sportsbooks, which operates in Colorado.
The buffalo run would come to a crashing halt after two weeks. After a dramatic overtime win over Colorado State, the Buffaloes advanced to No. 10 Oregon at 3-0 and with overwhelming support from the betting public. So much money was bet on Colorado to beat the Ducks as 21-point underdogs that some sportsbooks began offering discounts to bettors willing to back the Ducks.
Oregon won 42-6.
The Buffaloes return a more seasoned roster this season, highlighted by quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Travis Hunter. Sanders and Hunter, at 30-1 and 50-1, respectively, are among the top picks to win the Heisman Trophy at some sportsbooks.
“It’s hard to say if they’ll be as big as last year, but it (Colorado) tends to be one of our biggest liabilities so far,” Tucker said.
Colorado is a 9.5-point favorite over North Dakota State in Thursday’s opener (8 p.m., ESPN).
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