The Deion Sanders hype machine is unmatched across college football, as the charismatic coach generates headlines on a nearly daily basis. It’s not just national media members who are enthralled by Sanders, as sports bettors are buying into the excessive hype ahead of his first season as Colorado’s head football coach.
Despite some of the longest odds to win the Pac-12 Championship at mobile sportsbooks, bettors are putting their hard-earned cash on the Buffaloes to win the Power Five conference. The Buffaloes are +10000 to win at BetMGM — the longest odds of any team in the conference to win the league title — yet a spokesperson for the sportsbook told Sports Handle that 67% of tickets in the Pac-12 championship market have been placed on Colorado, with 74% of handle across the market on Sanders’ team.
This begs an obvious question for anyone who follows college football closely: What are those bettors thinking?
The Buffaloes aren’t expected to make a bowl game after going 1-11 last season, yet people are betting on them to not only make a bowl game, but also to win the Pac-12. The conference is expected to be competitive, with several teams likely inside the preseason top 15. Colorado’s win total at BetMGM is just 3.5 games.
There are even some bettors placing wagers on Colorado to win the national championship. Nearly 9% of bets placed at BetMGM on college football national championship futures are on Colorado, the fifth-most popular wager within that market. Colorado’s odds opened at +30000 and have since shrunk to +25000.
Transfer portal mania
Colorado stunk in 2022, so Sanders decided it was time to overhaul the entire roster once he took the job.
Sanders’ son, Shedeur, is the projected starting quarterback. He’s never thrown a pass against FBS competition, and now he’ll take the reins as the starter for a Power Five team.
Questions also linger about the team’s depth, including along the offensive and defensive lines. While Colorado added some quality players in the transfer portal, the Buffaloes also lost guys who looked like potential contributors. Tight end Seydou Traore figured to be a key player offensively, but he left the program during the spring.
Can Colorado’s new-look roster find on-field chemistry quickly? The group will need to with a season-opening game against a tough TCU squad on the horizon. Despite Sanders’ roster overhaul, the Buffaloes still look a step or two below Pac-12 contenders like USC, Washington, and Utah.
Furthermore, Colorado faces a daunting schedule, with games against TCU, Nebraska, Oregon, USC, and Utah. Surviving a conference road schedule of Oregon, Arizona State, UCLA, Washington State, and Utah will be a tremendous challenge for a new-look team and a first-time FBS head coach in a strong league.
Here is the 2023 football schedule for the Colorado Buffaloes. #SkoBuffs🦬 pic.twitter.com/alzCQnUWti
— Jake Schwanitz (@JakeDNVR) January 18, 2023
USC (+1400), Oregon (+3000), Washington (+3500), and Utah (+5000) all have odds of +5000 or shorter to win the national championship on FanDuel. The SEC is the only other conference with at least four teams with odds of +5000 or shorter to win the national title.
DraftKings gives every Pac-12 team except Stanford (+15000) shorter odds of winning the Pac-12 than Colorado (+10000). BetMGM has three teams (Arizona, Arizona State, and Stanford) at +10000 alongside Colorado.
Indiana as a comparison
Indiana, a Big Ten team, also has a win total of 3.5 at BetMGM and conference title odds of +10000. The volume of wagers placed on the Hoosiers sheds light on the irregularity of betting on a team projected to fall short of a bowl game to win its conference.
The Hoosiers have accounted for just 0.35% of tickets and 0.05% of handle to win the Big Ten at BetMGM. Indiana’s national title odds sit at +50000, and the Hoosiers have been selected on 0.11% of tickets and 0.01% of handle to win the championship at BetMGM.
Indiana isn’t a perfect comparison, as the Hoosiers haven’t completely changed their roster with a historic transfer portal haul. Still, Indiana enters 2023 with a similar win total projection as Colorado but without the hype brought by Sanders’ arrival.
Despite win total projections pointing to the contrary, Deion Sanders’ Colorado team has convinced some bettors that it’s ready for prime time.
