Deion Sanders is great for Colorado but bettors are greatly overestimating his first-year impact
I have no doubt in my mind Deion Sanders will increase the profile of Colorado football and turn the program into something better than what it was when he became head coach.
It’s not like it could get much worse.
The Buffaloes won just one game in 2022, finishing the Pac-12 dead last in points scored and points allowed. With the exception of the shortened 2020 season, they haven’t had a winning record since 2016. Before that, it was 2005.
This program needs work — an infusion of talent. And despite Sanders’ best efforts in the transfer portal, success is not going to happen overnight. Yet, at Caesars Sportsbook, Colorado has received more bets to win the 2024 CFP national championship than all but five teams.
All the college football teams with more bets to win the 2024 national title than Colorado (+20000) at @CaesarsSports:
LSU (+1400)
Georgia (+280)
Alabama (+500)
Michigan (+1200)
Ohio State (+650)That's it.
— Max Meyer (@TheMaxMeyer) February 21, 2023
The five teams with more bets than Colorado all make sense considering they all have top-six title odds, led by Georgia at +280. But Colorado’s standing among those teams is so incredibly random at +20000. Those odds are longer than 34 teams, including conference foe USC, which has the fourth-shortest odds at +800 and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback but somehow has fewer bets to win it all.
Now, to be fair, we don’t know exactly how many bets each team has received. Not many outside of the favorites likely have many. But even one bet for Colorado would be one too many. Can the team win one of those off-brand bowl games first?
With all the talent Sanders brought to Jackson State and with more time to operate, he was unable to win an HBCU national title. So, whatever is making people think he can win a title in year one is beyond me. His charisma is clearly working on more than just recruits.