Colorado Tops Big 12 Championship Favorites, Faces Kansas Today

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00:00We start first in Kansas City. Yes, inside Arrowhead Stadium, it's where Kansas is playing

00:09its final two home games of this season. Last week, they upset BYU at home in KC. This week,

00:18they now host the Big 12 championship favorites in Colorado. Joe, a two and a half point spread

00:24in favor of the Buffaloes. In his second year, Deion Sanders has CU at eight and two. They have

00:31covered in every single game since their first two of the year, and they have covered in all

00:36seven games they have played in Big 12 action. Colorado enters this game as the Big 12 championship

00:43favorites and a slight road favorite in Arrowhead. Where do you start your breakdown? Well,

00:48Colorado's playing as hot as anybody. They've won four straight by an average margin of victory of

00:5319.2 points per game, get the home win and cover over Utah. Forced turnovers, it's Shador, it's

00:59Travis Hunter, but more importantly, it's been that secondary in front seven. I mean, the secondary

01:04over the past three weeks, guys, has held opposing quarterbacks under 60% completion percentage. More

01:10importantly, they're shutting down the run. That was a weakness last year, and I think they're

01:14gonna be in this matchup. Again, they are the favorite. We saw two and a halves go to three

01:18and a halves midweek. We're back down to two and a half because Kansas has won back-to-back games

01:23over Iowa State and BYU. Jalen Daniels and Devin Neal playing better in the rushing attack, but I

01:29still go to this defense of Colorado, the speed of Colorado, less than a touchdown in terms of this

01:34matchup. Knowing what Deion has done, he's got the much more consistent quarterback in terms of the

01:40passing attack. You got the best player on the field in Travis Hunter. I think it might be close

01:44for a half-calf. Second half, I think Colorado pulls away over, but Colorado wins by double

01:50digits. Yeah, I'll be honest with you, Leece, as we get closer and closer to this game, it becomes

01:53clearer and clearer to me that this is my favorite bet on the board today. And honestly, I'm clicking

01:57as Leece is giving you guys all an incredible breakdown because I just, I don't want to miss out

02:01on the best of the number that is currently minus 114, and that is Shader Sanders to throw three

02:05touchdown passes in this game. Before I even dove into the numbers, I took note of multiple NFL

02:14players on Colorado today will be playing in an NFL stadium. Then you factor in is the back-to-back

02:19two-time champs. Then you factor in Shader Sanders is playing in the building Patrick Mahomes calls

02:24home. Okay, noted. Then we go to the Jayhawks side of it. Their last six games, they've allowed 18

02:29touchdowns. Not bad, but 14 of 18 have been through the air. Noted. They've allowed four touchdowns in

02:36four games this season. Three of the four quarterbacks within those games threw three plus

02:41passing touchdowns. They all threw at least two. This is a Shador game. They're like, I hope Pat's

02:48in the building. He's not, he's getting ready for Carolina, but I mean, come on, it's the Panthers.

02:52He should be quite frankly, sit by and watch this kid work. The Jayhawks have been awesome. The

02:58resume at four and six is maybe better than that of Penn State's at nine and one. They beat BYU.

03:03They beat Iowa State. The six point loss to Illinois, the four point loss to Arizona State, the

03:09two point loss to K-State. Kansas might be a top 25 team in college football. They had a tough time

03:17winning games. And now they've started to figure it out. I think this is a tough, tough spot for CU.

03:23Again, incredibly, this might be their best win of the season. If they get the job done, whether they

03:29do or not, I feel very confident throughout the process. Shador Sanders will throw three passing

03:35touchdowns.

03:36And again, that four and six record that you see on your screen for the Jayhawks is slightly

03:41misleading. And I discredited Kansas. Two weeks ago, they upset Iowa State in Arrowhead. Last

03:47week, they went to primetime Provo and handed BYU its first loss of the season. Kansas is one of

03:55nine teams around the country that holds multiple victories against a program currently ranked in

04:02the CFP top 25. Half of their four wins are against teams that are currently ranked in their

04:08average margin of defeat this year. It's just five points per game. They have covered in four straight.

04:15They have won three of their last four. This Jayhawks team in the last month, very different than the

04:21one that we saw to start this year. And what has always compelled me about Kansas, Kev, one of six

04:26teams around the country converting 50% or more of their third down tries. They're the second best

04:32red zone offense in the country. 34 red zone attempts, 33 scores, 27 red zone touchdowns. But let's also

04:40then compliment where I was very off on Colorado's evaluation this year. And what we saw the first

04:45couple of weeks against North Dakota State and Nebraska, the only two non-covers for the Buffaloes

04:50this season. The defense has been tremendous in Big 12 play. Again, CU has covered in all seven Big 12

04:57games. Colorado was one of 13 FBS programs nationally to have more than 30 sacks record this year, make it 32.

05:05They are allowing just 3.6 yards per carry. And last week against the Utah team that has built

05:12its offense on the ground with Isaac Wilson back as the starting quarterback and nobody knew who

05:17was going to be under center. We expected the Utes to run. They did 30 times for only 31 total yards.

05:25Colorado is a legitimate Big 12 title favorite, not just because of Shador or Travis Hunter,

05:31but because of that defense coordinated by Robert Livingston, which is remarkable. It's not supposed

05:36to be this way. It's really not like we're every game. Like Lisey, we were, we're supposed to like,

05:42hey, listen, total 74 and a half. You think Shador can do it all by himself? Like the, this is a

05:47balanced football team here. It is, it's incredible to see what they've been able to do. I think one of

05:54the fascinating things though, is if they do lose this game and we've all been betting college

05:59football long enough to know that this number says they are on massive upset alert. What does it do

06:03to Travis Hunter's Heisman number? Cause he's still a pretty strong favorite. I think he definitely

06:07still is the front runner, assuming that he produces again, you know, you're talking about

06:11a dual threat type of player that just has been dominant and there'll be a thousand yard receiver.

06:15We'll see how it plays out. I still think he'll be there depending upon how Cam Ward and the others

06:20play today. It's just a testament to what Deion has done. Year number one, they had better talent

06:25to achieve a four win season. Now he's developed that talent. They've cultivated it. They've

06:30progressed from last year. They've doubled the win total already challenging for a big 12

06:35championship and maybe just a college football playoff birth. He's a fantastic coach on top of

06:40being a great recruiter and motivator.

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