If you like offense, this week's contest between the Baylor
Bears and Oklahoma State Cowboys should definitely be on your must-see
list. There is plenty of great action
kicking off at 3:30 PM (ET) when ABC and 
ESPN2 will begin its broadcast from
Boone Pickens Stadium, but none of the other games will include the scoring
onslaught expected between the Bears and Cowboys.
The initial total of the game was 79 points, with a few
shops listing 79.5. It's easily the
highest total on the college football picks board, next being the 70 for Washington's home tussle against Arizona.
Oklahoma
State opened on a -15.5
spread, but early Baylor support plus some Cowboys injury news dropped that to
13.5 or 14.
Mike Gundy brings his club into this one No. 3 in the latest
BCS Standings with a perfect 7-0 record.
Gundy's biggest job the next few weeks will be to keep Oklahoma State
focused on just the next game, and not looking ahead to that big December
matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners.
Baylor will be the first of what should be four very
winnable games, as long as the Cowboys don't look past anyone. A tough home date with Kansas
State follows the Bears, meaning Gundy
has to keep his team from just looking ahead to that one; road games at Texas
Tech and Iowa State come later.
The injury news centers on starting wide receivers Justin
Blackmon and Hubert Anyiam. It's pretty
good news for Blackmon who sat out the second half of last week's win at
Missouri after taking a blow to the head.
He should be on the field this Saturday.
Anyiam's prognosis is not so good, however, with the senior
expected to miss the rest of the season with a broken foot suffered against the
Tigers.
Losing his star receivers at Mizzou didn't bother
quarterback Brandon Weeden one little bit, and it shouldn't bother him and the Okie State
scoring machine this week. Weeden still
threw three touchdowns with a 338-yard effort, while Joseph Randle carried the
load on the ground (14 rush, 138 yards, 3 TD).
Here we are 10 paragraphs into this, and we've just barely
mentioned Weeden, eighth in the country in total offense (335.9 YPG), and yet
to mention Robert Griffin III, third in the country with a 374.2 yardage
output. The two have combined to
complete over 74% of their passes this season with a 41/9 touchdown to
interception ratio.
RG3 is having a ridiculous season. His completion percentage is 78% with 22
scoring strikes to only two picks. He's
worth the price of admission on his own.
Baylor has had two weeks to prepare following the 55-28 loss
at Texas A&M. Art Briles has done an
absolutely fantastic job with this team, but let's face it, even with two weeks
he can't improve his defense enough and the Bears are well overmatched here.
Griffin leading Baylor to the outright upset would be less
surprising than Texas Tech's win over the Sooners last week, but if the Cowboys
aren't going to get caught looking ahead to Oklahoma just yet.
Taking a Chance: Mike
Gundy is a man. In fact, he's an older
man now that he's 44. A man his age should be able to coach a bunch of younger
men to beat a 13.5 to 14 point spread.
Mike Gundy is also a smart man, and this is a game he just might ease
off the gas a little to save his horses for November. T. Boone Pickens himself will enjoy this
one. Oklahoma State 48, Baylor 28 is my
pick.