The Texas Longhorns are hoping to keep their undefeated season intact on Saturday night in college football betting action when they invade Boone Pickens Stadium for a fight with the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Both of these teams are ranked within the Top 25 in the land, with Texas starting off the week at #10 and Okie State chiming in at #22. The Longhorns are going to hope to go on the road and beat the Cowboys to repay the Pokes for the 12 and 17 point losses over the course of the last two seasons. Oddsmakers expect them to do just that, installing them short 2.5-point road favorites.
1. Why Texas will cover the spread: The Longhorns will most certainly cover the spread in this game if their offensive numbers aren’t a sham. They rank #16 in the game in total offense at 514.3 yards per game and #7 in scoring at 49.3 points per game. QB David Ash has completed 76.4 percent of his passes and is averaging just under 10 yards per pass attempt. Both RB Malcolm Brown and RB Joe Bergeron have over 200 rushing yards this year as well. But look at the schedule; it hasn’t exactly been intimidating to say the least. If the Longhorns are this good offensively, they’ll be fine. If not, they’ll be in trouble.
2. Why Oklahoma State will cover the spread: Oklahoma State will cover the spread if it can stay balanced offensively and move the ball both via the run and the pass. This has been the key for the Cowboys over the course of the last two years even though they have been mostly a spread offense that throws the ball all over the field. Not only did the Pokes come up with 627 yards through the air in the last two in Austin, but they had 325 on the ground as well. So far this year, that hasn’t been a problem, as the Cowboys rank #1 in the land in total offense (686.7 YPG) and scoring (62.3 PPG), and they rank in the Top 10 in the land in both passing and rushing.
3. Total Talk: One would figure with these two offenses, points might be aplenty. However, both teams have played absolutely atrocious schedules this year that have just been littered with bad teams. This is going to be the first time that either of these offenses is tested against teams that do have some form of defenses, but both have some questions on this side of the ball as well. Remember that the Longhorns allowed 31 in their only game against a Big Six foe, and Okie State conceded 59 in its only game against an AQ school.
4. Betting Trends for Texas-Oklahoma State: The road team has covered five straight in this series and won four of those five games outright as well. The Longhorns are just 3-8 ATS in their last 11 following an ATS victory, but Mack Brown’s kids have covered five of their L/6 following a bye.. Oklahoma State has covered 19 of its L/26 versus the closing number, but it’s dropped five of its L/6 hosting this rivalry ATS.
Texas 38 – Oklahoma State 30
