Is there an upset brewing in Boulder this weekend? It sure looks like oddsmakers think so.
Despite being just 2-4 overall, Colorado is only a small underdog against No. 22 Iowa State this weekend at home.
Most sportsbooks had Colorado as a 4.5-point home underdog with the opening line against the Cyclones. As of Thursday afternoon, that spread has dropped. At FanDuel, Colorado is currently listed as only a 2.5-point underdog.
That spread smells suspicious. After all, Iowa State enters the game at 5-1 and is in need of a win this weekend to stay alive in the Big 12 Championship picture. The Cyclones dropped their first game last week on the road to Cincinnati, and a second straight conference loss would be tough to overcome.
For Colorado, the Buffaloes are 0-3 in Big 12 play and have lost back-to-back games to BYU and TCU. They've been competitive in three of their four losses this season, but Coach Prime's team has struggled to get over the hump to earn a much-needed victory.
That could change this weekend.
Deion Sanders and Colorado desperately need a win over Iowa State
Colorado's hopes of competing for the Big 12 title are long gone. What's left is getting the six wins needed to get to a bowl game, which will be an uphill climb over the last month and a half of the regular season. That task would be next to impossible unless the Buffs can pull off the win over Iowa State this weekend.
A win would put Colorado at 3-4, meaning they would need to go just 3-2 in the final five games to get to six wins. A loss puts them at 2-5, and would mean it would take a 4-1 mark down the stretch to garner bowl eligibility. Not impossible, but pretty unlikely considering what lies ahead.
Colorado will get a much-needed bye week next week, but after that still face road games at Utah, West Virginia, and Kansas State. Home tilts against Arizona and Arizona State will be far from easy wins, either.
Colorado's 2-4 record is probably a little misleading. The Buffaloes jumped out to two-touchdown leads in consecutive weeks against BYU and TCU, only to blow it in the second half. They're better than their record has shown, which oddsmakers are clearly banking on by making them such a small underdog against a much better team on paper.