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‘Coach Prime,’ Colorado near bottom of college football win totals

Deion Sanders has cleaned house at Colorado, where 52 players have entered the transfer portal since the Pro Football Hall of Famer was hired as Buffaloes coach in December.

But oddsmakers don’t expect the massive overhaul to result in a massive improvement this season, which starts in less than three months. Caesars Sportsbook has posted regular season over-under win totals on all 133 Football Bowl Subdivision teams and only five have a lower total than Colorado.

The Buffaloes, who went 1-11 last season, have a win total of 3½ at Caesars and Circa Sports, which posted totals on 69 teams.

Texas-based handicapper Paul Stone bet on Colorado to go under 3½ wins at Circa, where the under is a -130 favorite.

“Utilizing the transfer portal to essentially make over your roster is not ideal in my opinion,” said Stone (@paulstonesports). “The energy is high right now in Boulder, but let’s revisit the mood at the end of September after Coach Prime’s troops have lined up against the likes of TCU, Oregon and Southern Cal.”

Colorado is a 21-point underdog to national runner-up Texas Christian in their Sept. 2 season opener at Caesars, which has posted lines on all Week Zero and Week 1 games.

Stone also is banking on another Power Five team with a first-year coach to go under their win total. He bet on Auburn, under new coach Hugh Freeze, to finish under its win total of 7 (u-125).

“Both Colorado and Auburn not only have first-year head coaches, but also face difficult schedules,” Stone said. “But perhaps most notably, both have dipped heavily into the transfer portal.”

Magnificent seven

Seven teams have win totals of 10 or more at Circa, while six are in double digits at Caesars.

Defending national champion Georgia leads the way at both books. The Bulldogs are at 11½ wins (u-125) at Circa and 11 (o-160) at Caesars.

Michigan and Ohio State are at 10½ at both books, and Alabama, Clemson and USC are at 10.

Circa has Florida State at 10 (u-120) while Caesars has the Seminoles at 9½ (o-145).

Six other teams are at 9½ at Caesars in Texas, Penn State, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington.

Bottom 14

Massachusetts has the lowest win total at Caesars at 2 and Kent State is at 2½. Stanford, Charlotte and UL Monroe are each at 3.

Colorado is in a pack of nine teams at 3½. The others are Akron, Virginia, Florida International, Hawaii, Northwestern, Old Dominion, Sam Houston State and Vanderbilt.

UNLV, UNR

UNLV’s win total is on the rise under first-year coach Barry Odom at 6 (u-125).

The Rebels went over their win total of 4½ last season, when they finished 5-7. They have surpassed six wins only once in the past 22 years, going 7-6 in 2013.

UNLV is the 16-1 seventh choice at Caesars to win the Mountain West championship game. Boise State is the +190 favorite, followed by Air Force and Fresno State at 4-1, San Diego State at 6-1, Wyoming at 9-1 and San Jose State at 12-1.

UNR, which went 2-10 last season, is one of five teams with a win total of 4. The Wolf Pack are -145 favorites to go over their total and are 40-1 to win the Mountain West title.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.

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