Colorado Buffs vs. Michigan Wolverines Preview
Where: Michigan Stadium – Ann Arbor, Michigan
When: Saturday, September 17, 3:30 PM ET
Line: Colorado Buffaloes (+20.5) at Michigan Wolverines (-20.5) – view all NCAA Football odds and lines
TV Broadcast: Big Ten Network
Writer’s Pick: Michigan Wolverines (-20.5)
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Betting on the Colorado Buffaloes (+20.5)
Senior quarterback Sefo Liufau has made a miraculous recovery from a Lisfranc fracture in his foot, and is playing well. He’s connected on 75 percent of his passes thus far, with four total touchdowns (three passing, one rushing). Meanwhile, the running game has topped 260 yards with four touchdowns in each of their two games.
Michigan’s run defense ceded 275 yards and two touchdowns against UCF last week. That should give the Buffs some confidence in their ability to move the ball on a Wolverines front that’s still dealing with a few injuries.
Meanwhile, the defense has made a lot of progress under defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt, Jim Harbaugh’s former linebackers coach in San Francisco. His aggressive style of defense has now forced at least one turnover in 15 consecutive games, with five total takeaways in two games this season.
Betting on the Michigan Wolverines (-20.5)
Michigan under Jim Harbaugh has just been merciless against much weaker opposition inside the Big House. Excluding their losses to Michigan State and Ohio State, the Wolverines have won their other seven home games under Harbaugh by an average margin of 35 points. The lowest margin of victory of those seven was 21 points. Unsurprisingly, they’ve gone 6-1 ATS in those seven games.
The most recent of those victories came last week in a 51-14 win over UCF. Despite their defense giving up almost three-times more than their home average against unranked opponents in the Harbaugh era – 5.5 points per game – the Wolverines still comfortably covered the 35.5-point spread thanks to their offense.
Junior quarterback Wilton Speight has been very impressive through the first two weeks of the season. He needed just 13 passes to throw three touchdowns in their 63-3 demolition of Hawaii, and added four more against UCF to go with 312 yards.
Speight looked calm and composed in the pocket despite UCF throwing several blitzes at him, and was helped by fine pass protection by his line. That’s a good sign ahead of his meeting with an aggressive Buffs defense.
The possibility that Michigan now seems to have a legit quarterback to pair with that elite defense is also a good sign for the Wolverines’ chances of winning the national championship, which is currently priced at a sneaky +1,000.
Writer’s Prediction
Michigan (-20.5) delivers another blowout at the Big House with a 41-17 win over the Buffs.
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