Colorado State vs Alabama College Football Handicapping
Coming off the a statement victory that the program needed to make, The Alabama Crimson Tide shift their focus over to the 1-2 Colorado State Rams, who they will face as 39.5-point favorites.
Colorado State Rams (1-2) at 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (2-0)
Date: Saturday September 21, 2013
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Venue: Bryant-Denny Stadium
City: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
O/U Odds: 51
Spread: Alabama -39.5
Lines courtesy BetOnline
Saturday’s game will mark Alabama’s home opener. The team looked shaky in their opener, but looked great in a win over Texas A&M, as the game wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate.
The Alabama offense needed to put up a ton of points to get past Texas A&M, so that’s exactly what they did. Quarterback A.J. McCarron threw for 334 yards and four touchdowns in the game, three of which came in the first half. As a team, the Crimson Tide gained 234 yards on 37 rushing plays, 115 yards more than what they gained in Week 1 against Virginia Tech. Leading the backfield as expected was T.J. Yeldon, who racked up 149 yards and a score on 25 carries.
As good as the Alabama offense looked, there are now reasons to be concerned about the defense, and those concerns could lead to added motivation which gets worked out against Colorado State.
Understandably, the unit had a tough time stopping Johnny Manziel, who accounted for 562 total yards and five touchdowns against Alabama, including a career-high 464 passing yards. When all was said and done, Alabama gave up 628 yards of offense, the most ever allowed by the school. The defense did put up some points of their own though, when Vinnie Sunseri intercepted Manziel and returned the ball 73 yards for the score. Another positive is that the unit bounced back after allowing quick A&M scores on each of their first two drives. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Meanwhile, Colorado State enters this game coming off a 34-17 win over Cal Poly. The score doesn’t indicate how close the game was. Cal Poly was in position to knock through a field goal that would have made it a one-score game in the fourth quarter, but the Rams blocked that field goal, and Colorado State’s ensuing drive killed off a lot of the clock and ended with a touchdown.
Quarterback Garrett Grayson completed 21 of 30 passes for 297 yards and a pair of scores, including the final nail in the coffin, a six-yard strike to Kivon Cartwright late in the fourth quarter. Running back Chris Nwoke ran for 133 yards on 19 carries. In total, the team accumulated 533 yards of offense.
As for the Colorado State defense, they blocked a pair of field goals in the game, and limited Cal Poly to just 367 yards of offense.
This is a definite letdown spot for Alabama after playing what was titled the Game of the Millennium last weekend, but they are simply in another class than Colorado State, and in a position where their defense is desperate to make a statement and prove that they can be the dominant force that they were a year ago.
Alabama is 11-4 ATS in their last 15 non-conference games.
The play: Alabama -39.5
