Colorado Buffaloes (4-7) vs. Utah Utes (8-3)
November 26, 2021 4:00 pm EDT
The Line: Utah Utes -24 ; Over/Under: 53.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Utah Utes and Colorado Buffaloes clash Friday night in Pac-12 week 13 college football action from Rice-Eccles Stadium. Colorado just finished up a matchup versus Washington. In that one the Buffaloes eked out a three-point win. As for Utah, they played Oregon last weekend. The Utes ended up pulling off the upset win by 31 points. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Colorado hit a four-game losing streak early in the year, finally breaking it with an October 16 win over Arizona that put the team at 2-4. The Buffaloes have won just one of four games since then, beating Oregon State before losing to UCLA the next week.
Back on Saturday versus Washington, Colorado went into the fourth quarter tied 10-10 and scored 10 points from there in a thrilling 20-17 win. QB Brendon Lewis put up 112 yards on 14-of-25 passing and Jerek Broussard had 43 rush yards on 12 carries.
Over on the Utah side, they had two losses to BYU and San Diego State in their first six games. After another loss to Oregon State on October 23, the Utes beat UCLA, Stanford and Arizona in succession over their next three outings.
In the Oregon game, Utah jumped out to a 28-0 edge by halftime and cruised to the huge 38-7 victory. QB Cameron Rising went 10-of-18 for 178 yards, but Tavion Thomas did most of the work on the scoreboard with 21 carries for 94 yards and three scores.
The Buffaloes are 5-1 ATS in their last six in November and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 road games. Colorado is 1-4 ATS in their last five after an ATS win.
Meanwhile, the Utes are 7-2 ATS versus a team with a losing record and 7-2 ATS in their last nine in November. Utah is 12-5 ATS in their last 17 on turf.
PICK: I’m going to try Utah here. The Utes had a great offensive run against Oregon on Saturday. Utah managed 386 total yards and 24 first downs, but the key stat was their excellent 11-of-14 rate on third-down tries. The defense stood tall as well in a complete overall effort.
As for Colorado, they really didn’t play all that well against Washington, getting outpaced in total yards 426-183, first downs 22-9 and third down efficiency 14/21 to 2/13. The Buffaloes’ saving grace was their four takeaways, but they’ll take the W regardless.
