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The Colorado State Rams continue to shine under former SEC assistants. The program started to turn a corner when Jim McElwain was hired to take over in Fort Collins a half-decade ago, and the trend continued when the Rams brought in Mike Bobo. Bobo has the Rams looking like one of the best teams in the Mountain West in his third season on the job, with an offense that is firing on all cylinders. On Friday night, they will be taking on an offense that is struggling to find an identity in the New Mexico Lobos.
This matchup in Week 7 of the regular season will take place on Friday, October 20, 2017,
at 10:15 p.m. ET at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Colorado State -6.5
New Mexico +6.5
Over/Under Check Back Later
Odds Analysis
Colorado State’s only two losses this season were to power conference teams, and the Rams acquitted themselves well in both of those games. The Rams have been able to put points on the board against most defenses, and have lit up Mountain West opponents through the midway point of the season. CSU pulled out a wild one against Nevada last week to stay atop the Mountain West and now get into the meat of its schedule.
The Lobos were completely stonewalled by Fresno State’s defense last week. New Mexico was unable to get its ground game going, and that spelled disaster for Bob Davie’s bunch. Its defense was a disaster as well, giving up big gain after big gain last week.
Matchup to Watch
New Mexico could use one of two quarterbacks in this one. Lamar Jordan entered the season as the starter, but got knocked out of the Boise State game and has had some issues since then. Jordan is a decent passer, but has been the starter because of his ability to scoot. He has not had the same success he had during his first three seasons as the starter though, when he was averaging over five yards a carry every year.
Tevaka Tuioti is the player the fans are starting to clamor for in Albuquerque. Tuioti hasn’t seen as much action as Jordan, but was alright against New Mexico State and looked decent against Fresno State. He doesn’t have the rushing numbers that Jordan does, but Tuioti is just a freshman and there is a lot of talk about using him as the starter in order to get ready for the future.
Player to Watch
There aren’t many receivers better than Michael Gallup in college football. Gallup has been a superstar this year and is already just 52 yards away from 1,000 yards. He has more than twice the amount of catches as any other receiver on the team and is the team’s big play receiver too. Gallup is averaging 16.1 yards per reception this year and even had some success against Alabama’s secondary. He was amazing in the Rams’ win over Nevada last week, hauling in 13 receptions for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
Without Gallup, Nick Stevens wouldn’t be as effective. Stevens came on at the end of last season due in large part to throwing the ball Gallup’s way early and often. Having a weapon like him at a non-Power Five school is a rarity and the Rams know how lucky they are to have him.
Free ATS Pick
The Rams have been a bit sketchy on defense this season, but the Lobos have had a hard time stopping anyone. That loss to Fresno State last week was a big wake-up call and showed that opponents might finally be able to stop this ground game. Look for the Rams to get a nice road win here.
College Football Odds: Colorado State 37, New Mexico 24
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