College Football Week 2 Betting Preview: No. 13 Oregon vs. Texas Tech, Nebraska vs. No. 22 Colorado

After pulling off last week’s biggest upset, Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes go into their home opener as a favorite.

Kyle Wood | Sep 7, 2023

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The AP Top 25 reshuffled after Week 1 and when all the votes were in, Colorado came in at No. 22.

The Buffaloes pulled off one of the week’s biggest upsets on the road against a top-25 TCU team. Now, all eyes are on the Deion Sanders-led squad that’s drawn plenty of attention from bettors heading into a home bout against Nebraska, so much so that the line has moved more than a full touchdown.

Oregon also moved up two spots, to No. 13, after thrashing Portland State on Saturday. The Ducks are listed as road favorites against Texas Tech, which is fresh off an upset loss to Wyoming.

Those two games have our attention, so into Week 2 we go...

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix — Bo Nix leads a high-powered Oregon offense :: Ben Lonergan/USA Today Network

No. 13 Oregon vs. Texas Tech

Oregon (1–0) was projected to lay waste to FCS Portland State last week as a whopping 48.5-point favorite. The Ducks did more than that in an 81-7 rout that they led 50-7 at halftime. Bo Nix threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns, Troy Franklin and Gary Bryant Jr. both topped 100 yards receiving and Bucky Irving took two of his four carries for 50-plus-yard scores.

It was a fine tuneup for Dan Lanning’s team ahead of a road trip to Texas, where more resistance awaits from the Red Raiders. It’s expected to be a barnburner in Lubbock with both teams’ implied totals north of 30 points.

Texas Tech (0–1) suffered a 35-33 double-overtime loss to Wyoming as 13-point favorites in a game it led 17-0 at the end of the first quarter. And don’t let the high score fool you: The game was tied at 20 apiece heading into the first overtime. Tyler Shough finished with 338 passing yards and three touchdowns but Gino Garcia missed two field goals and had another blocked.

The Red Raiders bottled up the Cowboys’ offense, holding them under five yards per pass and to fewer than four yards per rush, but their own shortcomings on that side of the ball are concerning for a team that averaged more than 34 points per game in 2022 despite cycling through quarterbacks.

Nix’s rushing ability could be key for Oregon in this matchup. The fifth-year quarterback didn’t need to make any plays with his legs in the opener but he ran for over 500 yards and 14 touchdowns a year ago. Texas Tech was gashed on the ground in some of its worst losses in 2022, including one at Kansas State when the Wildcats tallied 343 rushing yards. The Ducks also had one of the top rushing attacks in the FBS and returned their top three rushers: Irving, Noah Whittington (who did not play Week 1) and Nix.

The Red Raiders will need to go blow for blow with an Oregon offense that has weapons all over and a Heisman candidate at quarterback. Shough can keep Texas Tech in it for a while through the air against the program for which he began his collegiate career, but the Ducks will overpower their opponent on the ground and win by at least a touchdown on the road.

BET: Oregon -6.5 (-120)

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and head coach Deion Sanders — Colorado head coach Deion Sanders talks things over with quarterback Shedeur Sanders, his son :: Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska vs. No. 22 Colorado

Week 1 went wildly different for Nebraska and Colorado. The Cornhuskers (0–1) blew a fourth-quarter lead to Minnesota and lost 13-10 on a game-winning field goal as time expired in an ugly Big Ten slugest. The Buffaloes (1–0) went into Fort Worth as 20.5-point underdogs and pulled off a 45-42 upset over then-No. 17 TCU, the 2022 national championship runners-up.

Nebraska, once favored to win this game by more than a touchdown, now will head into Boulder as an underdog. All the momentum has shifted to Colorado and its two Heisman candidates, Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, and, of course, Coach Prime.

The Buffaloes were powered by Sanders’s school-record 510 passing yards and Hunter’s play on both sides of the ball (11 catches, 113 yards, one interception) in the opener. The Horned Frogs did put up over 250 yards and four scores on the ground, but quarterback Chandler Morris was picked off twice and held under 60% completion percentage.

The Cornhuskers are hardly known for being as explosive as TCU on offense. They finished with less than 300 yards against the Golden Gophers, though quarterback Jeff Simms accounted for 91 on the ground. Simms tossed three interceptions in his Nebraska debut after transferring from Georgia Tech and running back Anthony Grant coughed up a fumble that set up the game-tying touchdown.

Fewer than 50 points have been scored in six straight Cornhuskers games. The under is 5–1 during that stretch and the only over was against Iowa, when the total was set at 38. Colorado can have a day on offense and the under still hit.

Nebraska’s plodding offense limited possessions for both itself and Minnesota. Maybe the Buffs allow another big rushing output this week but that still chews clock, which is already running out quicker with college football’s rule changes. The public is all over Colorado, so let’s zag a bit and instead bet the point total, which feels just a tad too high.

BET: Under 59.5 (-110)

College Football Betting Record: 2-2

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Published Sep 7, 2023

KYLE WOOD

Kyle is based in Washington, D.C. He writes the Winners Club newsletter and is a fantasy and betting writer for SI. His work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald and Gainesville Sun.