Colorado vs. Oregon: Buffaloes open as 22-point underdogs

After Saturday’s disappointing loss to Arizona, the fallout should be expected. The Colorado Buffaloes opened as a 22-point underdog against the #14 Oregon Ducks (4-1).

Colorado has suffered all sorts of injuries to Arizona State and Arizona in their last two games. They have a short week against Oregon (Friday night game), travel to Eugene, and have to deal with Autzen Stadium’s tough environment. The Ducks are pretty good, too, as they have star QB Justin Herbert leading the offense, and a strong defense that’s allowing 9.8 points per game this season.

If there’s great news for Colorado, it’s that a lot of their injured players will be back. The offense should get back Laviska Shenault Jr., as well as KD Nixon and Jalen Harris; meanwhile, Mustafa Johnson, Mikial Onu and Aaron Maddox are all possible returns. They’re still banged up, but it shouldn’t be a skeleton crew like it was against Arizona.

It’s also worth noting that this 22-point spread is quite big for what should be a high-scoring game. Colorado can score, with or without their star players, so they should test the Ducks more than Stanford or Cal’s putrid offenses. Oregon should also be able to score — and they will most likely score more than CU — but despite having Herbert, their offense hasn’t looked great against the three Group of 5 teams they’ve faced.