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00:04An early start in the Rocky
00:08Mountain State at 10 AM
00:10Mountain Time, Colorado with a
00:12path to a college football
00:14playoff and a Big 12
00:16championship game appearance
00:18will play host to Utah. How
00:20different this year has been
00:22for both of these teams with
00:24the expectations they had
00:26entering the Buffaloes. Now,
00:28half point home favorite against
00:30the preseason pick and favorite
00:32to win the Big 12. That
00:34is Utah. KFCU now nearly
00:36a two touchdown favorite at home
00:38today against the Utes. In a
00:40controversial ending last week
00:42in the 102nd Holy War
00:44Utah did lose at home in Rice
00:46Eccles against BYU.
00:48Meanwhile, Colorado just keeps
00:50winning and just keeps covering.
00:52Seven consecutive covers. The buffs
00:54are perfect in Big 12
00:56covering numbers and now laying
00:58two touchdowns against Utah.
01:00Where do you start your breakdown
01:02for this early matchup in Boulder?
01:04Just knowing that I respect
01:06this Colorado team a lot, but this
01:08is a spot that I was anxious
01:10anxious for and I got
01:12everything I wanted. I know there
01:14are quarterback questions for Utah.
01:16I do not care. I am not betting
01:18on anyone that Utah is playing at quarterback.
01:20Is Cam Ryan available? Let him get out there
01:22and toss it around. I'm betting on
01:24Kyle Whittingham. Quite frankly, Kyle Whittingham could
01:26play quarterback and I would still take the Utes
01:28lost the points. This number late last
01:30night was 11.5. It shot up to 13.5.
01:32Ben, I'll let you explain kind of the questions
01:34around that a little bit more, but
01:36this to me is kind of two coaches
01:38and being in a spot where I know
01:40who I want to back. I'll say
01:42this on Deion's side.
01:44I think the world of what he's done at Colorado.
01:46He's also 0-3 against the number
01:48as a double digit favorite.
01:50Never even really flirting with the cover.
01:52When he did, it was because he was up 29-0 to Stanford
01:54and then they lost outright in that
01:56football game. It's just
01:58not a thing they've done
02:00during his time is cover these
02:02type of numbers. I know there hasn't
02:04been a lot of them. I know they're better this year
02:06than years prior. This is where
02:08Kyle Whittingham factors in. A pedigree
02:10head coach, one of the most in college
02:12football. Not a guy
02:14who's won national championships,
02:16but a guy who commands respect and you saw
02:18that last week with the upset scare that
02:20he put into the BYU Cougars. Whittingham's only
02:22missed ball eligibility twice during
02:24his two decades at Utah
02:26and not including, of course, the COVID season.
02:28This now
02:30is a game that they kind of need if
02:32they're going to be able to get back to a ball
02:34game. I'm not sure they get it.
02:36I'm pretty confident, Joe, they hang inside
02:38double digits. Definitely. I like
02:40Utah with the points as well. Twelve
02:42and a half. I think the biggest factor as
02:44well is they're going to look to run the football.
02:46Bernard's number today is 80
02:48and a half. If he gets through that,
02:50they're controlling the line of scrimmage.
02:52It's basically going to be a four-quarter
02:54game. And the most impressive statistic
02:56last week wasn't the offense, which you're
02:58saying is going up against Texas Tech.
03:00It was how they held and limited that
03:02rushing attack and basically held them
03:04to two and a half yards per carry. Force
03:06Morton and that offense into long third
03:08down situations. This defense is
03:10starting to come into form. They're opportunistic.
03:12Multiple turnovers in the fourth
03:14quarter to change the momentum in
03:16the matchup and give them a double-digit
03:18lead with about five minutes left.
03:20And they played very well down the stretch.
03:22So I'm not going to take away from that. The other
03:24factor as well, you look at the total in the game.
03:26Very low. So that total really
03:28lays in to Utah's offensive
03:30philosophy. They're only allowing
03:32Ben 23% in terms
03:34of third down conversions. That's
03:36going to be the matchup. Run the football.
03:38Stay in manageable third downs. Get Shadour
03:40into long third downs because
03:42from a sack perspective, they could still bring
03:44pressure off the edge. That offensive line
03:46is good. It's not elite. We'll see
03:48how this plays out. I'm taking Utah. I don't suggest
03:50the upset, but I'll take the points with the
03:52low 43 and a half. I think under tonight.