Colorado football opens as road underdog against Northwestern

The Colorado Buffaloes are a road underdog in their final nonconference matchup of the season against the Big Ten's Northwestern Wildcats. Colorado faces Northwestern for just the third time ever, with the last meeting coming in 1978, when the Buffs won 55-7. The Wildcats have a rest advantage over

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What is the story about?

The Colorado Buffaloes are a road underdog in their final nonconference matchup of the season against the Big Ten's Northwestern Wildcats.

Colorado faces Northwestern for just the third time ever, with the last meeting coming in 1978, when the Buffs won 55-7. The Wildcats have a rest advantage over the Buffaloes after a Week 2 bye, but the Buffs have the experience of playing two games to work out the kinks.

CU has shown that it can do so in a variety of ways, with Julian Lewis and the passing attack leading the way against Weber State, while the running game dominated Week 1 against Georgia Tech.

In Northwestern's only game of the year, the Wildcats took down South Dakota State in Evanston, but their defense allowed 432 total yards, including

285 passing yards. So Saturday's matchup could be another day for Lewis and the passing game to take center stage. Northwestern showed they could run the ball in their season opener, rushing for 224 yards and three scores. Colorado's run defense will have to show up once again.

Here is a quick look at the early betting odds for this week's matchup.