The Oklahoma State Cowboys are looking to post their third straight 10-3 season. Oklahoma State has been one of the best teams in the Big 12 during the Mike Gundy era and he was able to take the program to new heights after Les Miles left for LSU. Currently, the Cowboys are sitting at 9-3 and need to beat the Virginia Tech Hokies to pick up that 10th win. They are favored to do so, but the Hokies gave us one of the best comebacks of bowl season last year and have put together a great season of their own.
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College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Virginia Tech +4
Oklahoma State -4
Over/Under 63
Odds Analysis
Virginia Tech wasn’t able to beat the top teams in the ACC, but was in that next tier. The Hokies finished the year at 9-3 thanks to playing Virginia Tech football. They had one of the top defenses in the country and played great special teams too. That defense was the reason the under went 8-3-1 in Hokies games this year.
Oklahoma State is one of the most high-powered offenses in the country thanks to Mason Rudolph. The Cowboys won games by pouring it on opponents and were held under 31 points just once all season. Each of their last five games went over the total and the over was 9-3 in Oklahoma State games on the year.
Player to Watch
Rudolph put up some amazing numbers in this offense and was the reason that the Cowboys were the second-best offense and best passing offense in the country. He threw for over 4,500 yards this year and most defenses just could not stop him no matter what they did.
The only two teams that had real success stopping him were TCU and Texas. TCU has continually been the best defense in the Big 12 since joining the conference and Texas has some amazing athletes. With Virginia Tech, the defense is based more on scheme and discipline than athleticism, so if Bud Foster doesn’t have a good gameplan Rudolph could have a big day.
Rudolph also benefits from having one of the best wide receivers in the country. James Washington is a tremendous big play receiver and averaged over 20 yards per catch this year.
Key Stat
As good as Oklahoma State is at moving the ball, the secondary has had a hard time stopping the other pass-happy offenses in the Big 12. The Cowboys are allowing 268.5 yards per game through the air and that’s one of the worst totals in the country.
Fuente is known as a coach who can develop quarterbacks and he has brought Josh Jackson along quite a bit in his freshman year. The Hokies haven’t had a run game that they could rely on, but Jackson still put up good numbers as a freshman.
Jackson seemed to lose steam late in the season and threw for 200 yards or less in five of his last six games. He will need to do better against a Cowboys defense that struggles to stop the pass.
Free ATS Pick
Oklahoma State is going to need to watch out for Virginia Tech’s vaunted special teams. The Hokies had six blocked field goals and five blocked punts this year, both numbers that were tied for the best in the country.
While I love what Foster and Fuente are doing at Virginia Tech, this will be the last game for Rudolph and Washington and they will look to go out with a bang. I expect Oklahoma State to put up big numbers in a comfortable win over Virginia Tech.
College Football Odds: Oklahoma State 41, Virginia Tech 24
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