No. 13 BYU Football Opens as a Favorite Over Oklahoma State

Casey Lundquist | Oct 13, 2024

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff against Arizona / BYU Photo

BYU is 6-0 and at the top of the Big 12 standings. The Cougars have a short week to prepare for Oklahoma State who is coming off a bye week. On Sunday, Circa Sports released the opening line for BYU-Oklahoma State. The Cougars opened as seven point favorites over the Cowboys.

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The over/under is set at 58.5, so oddsmakers expect a final score in the ballpark of 33-26 in favor of BYU.

Oklahoma State has been disappointing this season. Before the season, the Cowboys were viewed as one of the favorites to win the Big 12. Oklahoma State was picked to finished third in the Big 12 in the preseason poll. Now, the Cowboys are 0-3 in conference play and already out of the conference race. Oklahoma State Mike Gundy, however, has built a reputation for winning when he is not supposed to win. After a bye week, the Cowboys will come out motivated to get back on the path to bowl eligibility.

BYU has been the opposite of Oklahoma State this season. The Cougars were picked to finish 13th out of 16 Big 12 teams and Vegas set the over/under for their win total at 4.5. Now, BYU is 3-0 in conference play and looking to make a run at the conference championship.

The Oklahoma State quarterback situation is something to monitor this week. Seventh-year senior Alan Bowman has really struggled, and there have been rumors that he could be replaced by Garret Rangel according to the Tulsa World. Rangel has played in three games for the Cowboys, mostly in their loss to Utah. Rangel replaced Bowman in the second half when Oklahoma State's offense was struggling. The offense got worse with Rangel under center, so they went back to Bowman in the fourth quarter. This year, Rangel has thrown for 141 yards while completing 45.8% of his passes.