Colorado State Rams 2024 Season Preview

The days are getting shorter in Fort Collins and that means Colorado State football will be back on the gridiron very soon.

Colorado State has endured six straight losing seasons, but things appear to be trending better after a 5-7 finish in 2023. Head coach Jay Norvell is entering his third season in charge and it looks like the rebuild is picking up steam, as the Rams have the fourth-best odds to win the Mountain West on some sportsbooks.

Check out this guide for betting on the Colorado State Rams this year.

Betting on Colorado State


There are many ways to bet on Colorado State this year. Leading into the season there are all sorts of interesting college football betting markets, including college football win totals, Mountain West odds, and Heisman odds, to name a few.

When the ball is snapped on Saturdays, moneyline bets, point spread bets, and over/under bets are the best and easiest types of wagers to place on CSU.

Betting the Colorado State moneyline

Betting the moneyline is just betting on which team will win. The margin of victory has no impact on a successful moneyline wager, it is just about which team wins the game.

Here’s an example of how a Colorado State moneyline would be priced:

• New Mexico +270
• Colorado State -350
  
  The Rams are big moneyline favorites in this hypothetical game at -350. Teams with minus (-) odds are favorites and teams with plus (+) odds are underdogs, so Colorado State is the favorite and New Mexico is the underdog in this game.
  
  A winning moneyline underdog bet is also more valuable than a winning moneyline favorite. Teams with plus odds pay out more if they win because they are thought to be a worse team as an underdog. If you made a $10 moneyline wager on New Mexico at +270 and it wins, then you would win $27 and get back your stake for $37 total. A winning moneyline bet on Colorado State at -350 would pay out $2.88 in winnings plus the $10 stake for $12.88 total.
  
  The Action Network betting odds calculator is a good resource to use for moneyline betting.

FAQ: How to bet on the moneyline | How to make a parlay

Betting Colorado State point spreads

A point spread bet is decided by the final margin of victory in a given game. The bettor must guess if a team wins or loses by more or fewer points than the listed numerical spread.

Great teams can still be .500 against the spread because weekly point spreads are adjusted throughout the season to reflect the quality of a team. If the Kansas City Chiefs are eight-point favorites, they would need to win by at least nine points to cover the spread. A three-point victory would win the moneyline, but it would not cover the spread.

Let’s use the same hypothetical game against New Mexico for a point spread example.

• New Mexico +9.5 (-110)
• Colorado State -9.5 (-110)
  
  Colorado State needs to win by at least 10 points to cover the spread in this game. A seven-point win won’t do it. Conversely, if the Rams won by seven points, then New Mexico would cover the spread even though it still lost the game. Point spreads also designate the favorite with a minus and the underdog with a plus.
  
  Since the spread accounts for the difference in quality between teams, most spread bets are priced at -110. This means you would have to bet $1.10 for every $1 you’d like to win. Use the odds calculator or read up on American odds to learn more.
  
  FAQ: Everything you need to know about point spreads

Betting the Colorado State total

Also known as over/unders, totals bets are about trying to predict how many total points are scored in a game. You bet whether a game’s final score adds up to be more or less than the listed total from the sportsbook.

This matchup has a total of 57.5 points. Taking the over means you need 58+ total points to be scored, while an under bet would need to finish with 57 points or fewer.

• Over: 57.5 (-105)
• Under: 57.5 (-115)
  

If CSU won the game 33-30, the over hits. If the final score is 27-24, then the under would win.

The over and under have corresponding payouts. In this example, betting the over means you would need to bet $1.15 for every $1 you want to win, and an under bet would take $1.05 to win $1.

FAQ: Betting the point total, explained | What is a push?

Colorado State Player Props & other bets

Not every legal sports betting state allows player props for college athletes, but it can be found in some states. Many states have banned college prop betting after various betting scandals around the country.

If it is available to you, prop bets are wagers on statistical outcomes. Football prop bets could be the total yards for a player (eg: over/under 85.5 rushing yards) or whether or not a player scores a touchdown. Keep in mind that prop betting is way more common and available in the NFL and professional sports.
A platform like PrizePicks is a good alternative for fans in states with limited legal sports betting. It’s a DFS platform that lets you pick individual player stats to end with more or less than the PrizePicks listed total.

FAQ: Here’s how prop betting works