‘They’re Deion believers’: Bettors riding Colorado

The betting public backed Colorado and coach Deion Sanders across the board this season.

“They bet Colorado on everything. The national championship. The Heisman. The Big 12,” Westgate SuperBook vice president of risk Ed Salmons said. “They’re Deion believers. If Colorado wins, we lose.”

Bettors who pounded the Buffaloes to go over their season win total of 5½ have already won their wagers. Colorado is 6-2 (4-1 Big 12) as the College Football Playoff selection committee gets set to announce its first rankings Tuesday for the inaugural 12-team playoff.

The Buffs are the 3-1 third choice at the SuperBook to win the conference title game behind BYU (+225) and Iowa State (+250). Colorado, 100-1 to win the national title, opened the season as a 22-1 long shot at Caesars Sportsbook to win the Big 12.

“Their only path (to the CFP) is to get into the Big 12 championship game and win,” Salmons said. “Colorado still has a couple tough games. This week, they’re only -3 at Texas Tech. At Kansas will be a tough game.”

Heisman Hunter

Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter is the 2-1 co-favorite at the SuperBook with Miami quarterback Cam Ward to win the Heisman Trophy. Hunter, a wide receiver/cornerback, opened at 50-1 at Circa Sports to win the award.

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel is the +275 third choice, and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is the 8-1 fourth pick.

“That’s, to me, the only four that can win right now,” Salmons said. “For the Boise kid to win, he’s going to have to run for 200 and 300 yards on national TV with a ton of touchdowns, and that just hasn’t happened. I don’t see how he can win. So now you’re down to three. I think the Colorado kid is in the best position.

“It’s a weird year. Everyone in the world will tell you the two best conferences are the SEC and Big Ten, and there’s just no dominant player in those conferences that has stepped up. I think the best football player, by far, is the kid from Colorado, and I think he’s ultimately going to win.”

CFP

The 12-team playoff will feature the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams.

Salmons sees the top four favorites to win the national title as locks to make the playoff: Ohio State (+350), Georgia (4-1), Oregon (+450) and Texas (6-1).

Based on the Westgate’s power ratings, Alabama would be the No. 5 team and Penn State No. 6, followed by Ole Miss, Tennessee, Clemson, Miami, Fla., LSU and Notre Dame.

But Salmons expects the committee to put Indiana, Miami and BYU in the middle of the pack because they’re all undefeated.

“That’s the game they play. They’re obsessed with the no-loss stuff,” he said. “The most interesting thing about this whole exercise is going to be where are we going to put these two-loss SEC teams versus when Indiana loses to Ohio State, where are they going to be ranked.

“Give Indiana credit, they’ve won every game by a lot of points, but their schedule has been awful.”

Six SEC teams are in the top 12 in the Westgate’s power ratings.

“They’re just better teams. They’d all be favored over Indiana if they played right now,” Salmons said. “The problem is they play each other, so someone has to lose.

“If I had to take one of the non-Power Four teams, it would be Boise.”

Boise State is the -400 favorite to win the Mountain West title game, and UNLV is the +450 second choice.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.