College Football Odds Week 2: Nebraska vs Colorado Lines, Spreads, Betting Trends

Patrick Everson Sports Betting Expert

4 minute read

College football odds for Week 2 are already up, and one game in particular will have the attention of many across the nation. The Colorado Buffaloes, coming off a stunning road upset of TCU, renew their old Big 12 rivalry with the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Boulder.

Here's everything you need to know about college football odds for the Week 2 game between Nebraska and Colorado: opening lines, spreads, betting trends and more. Check back regularly for updates.

Nebraska vs No. 22 Colorado Odds

• Opening point spread: Colorado -5.5
• Opening moneyline: Colorado -150/Nebraska +130
• Opening total: 65.5
• Time: Noon ET Saturday (FOX)

UPDATE 11:15 A.M. ET SATURDAY: Nationally, BetMGM had a lookahead line last week of Nebraska -8.5. The game reopened Sunday afternoon at Colorado -2.5, peaked at Buffs -3.5 a couple times and is now Colorado -2.5 (-115).

Spread ticket count and money are both running 6/1 on Colorado. And BetMGM Nevada – the sportsbook operator's Las Vegas market – is seeing 4/1 tickets and 5/1 money on Colorado. And bettors are on Buffs moneyline as well.

"This is by far the most heavily bet game, ticket-wise and money-wise. It doesn't look like there's a close second," BetMGM Nevada's Scott Shelton said. "The ticket count on Colorado is crazy. There's not an NFL team with as many spread tickets as Colorado. Colorado has four times as many spread bets as any pro team.

"We need Nebraska outright."

UPDATE 3:30 P.M. ET THURSDAY: It's all Colorado, all the time this week at PointsBet, a Fanatics Experience. A week ago, on the lookahead line, Nebraska was an 8.5-point favorite. After Colorado's big upset of TCU, PointsBet reopened at Nebraska -1.5.

The line quickly jumped the fence, and the Buffaloes are now up to -3. Handle on the Buffs is huge, not just in context to the game itself, but against every other matchup. PointsBet senior editor Max Meyer reports that Colorado has taken six times more spread money than any other team on the college football Week 2 odds board.

In fact, PointsBet is seeing more spread cash on Colorado than on 30 of 32 teams in NFL Week 1 matchups. Only the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions – playing in the tonight's NFL season opener – have taken more spread money than the Buffaloes.

"I can’t recall a time in the last few years where one college football team’s handle dwarfed everyone else in college football during a game week," PointsBet trader Wyatt Satre said. "I think this line move is an overreaction because of the limited sample size, and not much is known about how consistent this team can be with all the new transfers. I’m expecting a little sharp action on Nebraska, but not a ton, given that Colorado has such a wide range of potential outcomes.”

UPDATE 2 P.M. ET TUESDAY: Colorado opened as a 1.5-point favorite at TwinSpires Sportsbook and is already out to -3.5. Early ticket count is 3/1 and early money beyond 5/1 on the Buffaloes, in a college football odds Week 2 market that's traveled a long way since last week's lookahead line.

"The line movement on this deserves its own story. We had Nebraska at -7.5 last week, with money coming in on the Huskers," TwinSpires director of retail sports Zachary Lucas said. "The hype train is real. Public, sharps, you name it, they’re on Colorado this week. Colorado very easily could be our biggest liability by the time this game starts."

TwinSpires' total is already up to 59.5 from a 57.5 opener, with tickets 2/1 and money 3/1 on the Over.

"After the Buffaloes' performance last week, it's safe to say we’ll need the Under," Lucas said.

UPDATE 4:30 P.M. ET SUNDAY: Circa Sports has a very different approach to bookmaking than most. Circa's oddsmakers revel in the price discovery process, eager to figure out where resistance points – sharp bettors' resistance points, to be specific – exist on any given matchup.

So at 2 p.m. ET today, Circa opened Colorado a 5-point favorite, with a total of 65.5. That was a couple steps further than other books, where Colorado was floating between -1.5 and -2.5, with a total of 58.5.

Sharp resistance quickly emerged, literally within minutes.

"We hung the number we thought was right, and then the market tells us what they think of it," Circa Sports director of operations Jeff Benson said. "The market disagreed with our adjustment on Deion's team and blasted us on the 'dog. We went from Nebraska +5 to +2. That could be people scalping to the market or not believing the hype.

"It will be fascinating to see the two-way action as limits rise."

Indeed, on Circa's opening odds, betting limits are $3,000 on a side and $1,000 on the total. Those limits rise significantly by kickoff Saturday – perhaps well into five figures on a side – as Circa writes more volume and the market matures.

Keep in mind that lookahead lines last week had Nebraska favored by 7.5 to 8.5 points. But Colorado's 45-42 road upset of No. 17 TCU, with the Buffaloes closing as 21-point underdogs, clearly carried a lot more weight than Nebraska's less-than-scintillating 13-10 loss as a 7.5-point underdog at Minnesota.

Circa's total was also jumped on from the get-go, plunging from 65.5 to 57. It's now settled at 58.5.

Click here for Vegas Insider senior reporter Patrick Everson's full College Football Odds Week 2 Report containing spreads, lines, and trends for every Top 25 matchup.

Patrick Everson

Patrick Everson is a senior reporter for VegasInsider. Based in Las Vegas since 1994, he's worked in the sports betting journalism/content space for more than a decade. He's most known for his deep roster of contacts behind sportsbook counters, providing readers and viewers with the ins-and-outs of how events are being bet. He's also a thought leader in the sports betting space, often appearing on or moderating panels at national conferences. More from Patrick Everson