It’s hard to know exactly where things stand for Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes right now.

The Buffs fell, 27-20, at home to Georgia Tech in Week 1, but they rebounded with a matter-of-fact victory against Delaware heading into their first conference showdown against Houston.

The Cougars have yet to face a stiff test, but they’re 2-0 on the year after whitewashing Stephen F. Austin and Rice by a combined score of 62-9.

There was some momentum behind Houston this offseason for a couple of reasons. 

The most obvious was that the Cougars were blessed by the scheduling god, but the other reason was that everybody and their mother is a believer in Willie Fritz as a head coach.

He’s worked wonders at every stop in Year 2 of his reign.

After allowing just nine points in their first two games – albeit against soft opposition – the optimism is only growing louder around John O’Quinn Field.

But, as often happens in college football, it does seem like everybody is getting a little ahead of themselves.

Coming into the season, most power rankings had Colorado rated above Houston, with the Cougars getting a bump thanks to their schedule and the arrival of quarterback Conner Weigman from Texas A&M.

So far, so good for Weigman, but he’s played Stephen F. Austin and Rice. 

He was an inconsistent performer during his time with the Aggies, so it’s best to adopt a wait-and-see approach with him. Expecting him to throw all over the place against Colorado seems like a stretch.

Colorado is not going to be the electric factory it was in 2024, but that doesn’t mean it should be getting this many points against Houston, a team that was projected to be worse than the Buffaloes this season.

Wins over Stephen F. Austin and Rice shouldn’t change that.

The Play: Colorado (+158, FanDuel)

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.