Key Match-Ups and Predictions for Cowboys in Moving Weekend Game at Kansas State
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- My friend Ryan Ballick, the producer of Big 12 This Morning on SiriusXM Radio calls this Saturday "moving day" in the Big 12. His reasoning is you have Oklahoma State at Kansas State with both teams in that one loss club in the conference standings. Somebody is going to be moving up and somebody is going to be moving out of the conference race with the result. In Austin, the Longhorns are hosting West Virginia and two teams hoping to stay attached in the race with a chance and the loser of that one is back to playing for a bowl game.
Adding to the background of the Cowboys game with the Wildcats is that both teams are looking to recover from losses last week to the two teams playing in Austin. Kansas State and freshman quarterback Will Howard were bashed by the Mountaineers. In Stillwater, for the eighteenth time or more, Spencer Sanders and the Cowboys gave away a game they should have won by two scores or more to Texas.
Above all, Oklahoma State quarterback Spencer Sanders needs to protect the football and play better, make better decisions, because when he does with his talent he is as good a quarterback as there is in the Big 12. When he doesn't, it doesn't matter how much talent he posesses.
Oklahoma State left guard-#74-Preston Wilson vs. Kansas State defensive tackle-#59-Drew Wiley
Wiley may be the most active defensive tackle in the Big 12 this season. Combine him with the rest of the K-State front, including defensive end Wyatt Hubert, and this is a real force the Oklahoma State offensive line will be dealing with. The elder statesmen on the offensive line in tackles Josh Sills and Teven Jenkins and center Ry Schneider are good, but with youngsters in between at guards and now red-shirt freshman Preston Wilson moving in as Sills moves over to replace injured Jake Springfield the line adjusts again.
I like Wilson, he's young and inexperienced, but his care factor is high and he is tough.
"We watched film. He's got things he needs to learn from and get better at," Sills said of Wilson after the Texas game. "He went out today (Monday practice) and without a doubt picked coach (Charlie Dickey's) brain, worked his butt off in practice to fix those mistakes and get better at what he needs to get better at. He had a lot of questions for me and (Teven Jenkins) and (Ry Schneider) and we tried to help him as much as we could. I was really pleased with how he played, how he came in. His confidence level and that type of thing."
Oklahoma State wide receiver-#2-Tylan Wallace vs. Kansas State cornerback-#6-Justin Gardner
Gardner is good as a corner, but there isn't a corner in the Big 12 and maybe in all of college football that can go toe-to-toe with Wallace. He is exceptional and his ball skills are sick, that is sick as in good. He has the best ball skills I've seen of a receiver at Oklahoma State and there have been some great ones.
This week he was named on the watch list for the new Mayo Clinic Comeback College Player of the Year Award. I would say right now he is a shoe-in.
Wallace is popular and he is practical and realistic. He know how important it is for Oklahoma State to get back on the horse in a hurry, like right out of the gate at Kansas State.
"It's very important," Wallace said earlier this week. "We can't come out and just kind of loaf around and you know just be down on ourselves. K-State's not gonna come out and give us any slack. So we can't go out there and play down not to our level. We have to go out there and we prepared for them."
Oklahoma State defensive end-#89-Tyler Lacy vs. Kansas State-right tackle #50-Cooper Beebe
Lost in the way the Cowboys fell in overtime to Texas was Tyler Lacy's play at defensive end. The Oklahoma State defense held Texas to 287-yards of total offense and to only 118-yards rushing and Lacy had a lot to do with it making several tackles for losses and several more for little gain. He has really picked up his play although it is sometime in the shadow of Trace Ford and Calvin Bundage with their pass rush power.
"The biggest way I've grown from last year is just trusting the defense more, doing what the coaches tell me to do, going out there full-speed every down," Lacy said.
Lacy is a very powerful, large and explosive athletic defensive end. He will match up often with the youngest member of the Wildcats offensive line and this could be something Lacy and Oklahoma State exploit.
Pokes Prediction
#14-Oklahoma State 38
@Kansas State (-12) 23
3 p.m. on FOX
Oklahoma State has had trouble in Manhattan. I think this will be competitive, but I really believe that Spencer Sanders will be very sharp on his corrections from the Texas game and with his talents that should give Oklahoma State a mismatch with the quarterback. Sanders will face a good defense in K-State, but Will Howard is going from the deep end last week against West Virginia to the deeper end against the Cowboys defense.
Big 12 Predictions
Season: Record vs. Spread - 18-14; Record Straight Up - 22-10
Last Week: Record vs. Spread - 3-2; Record Straight Up - 4-1
This Week - Oct. 31, 2020
West Virginia (+6.5) 31
@#22-Texas 27
11 a.m. on ABC - Texas got a gift win in Stillwater and the Mountaineers won't come to Austin in a giving mood. They are the better team.
Texas Tech (+9) 21
@TCU 34
2:30 p.m. on FS1 - TCU at home and with momentum as Tech is struggling with stopping anybody. Frogs got the run game going at Baylor.
Kansas (+38) 20
@#19-Oklahoma 59
2:30 p.m. on ESPN2 - This is a name your score game.
Baylor (+14) 16
@#17-Iowa State 35
7 p.m. on ESPN2 - Sooners have all the tricks and will end up with more treats. Tech is competitive but not good enough for an upset here.
Last Week - Oct. 24, 2020
#16-Kansas State (+3.5) 26
@West Virginia 28
Actual Score: 37-10 West Virginia
#23-Iowa State 49
@Kansas (+28.5) 13
Actual Score: 52-22 Iowa State
TCU (-2.5) 34
@Baylor 20
Actual Score: 33-23 TCU
Texas (+3.5) 20
@#6-Oklahoma State 34
Actual Score: 41-34 (OT) Texas
#24-Oklahoma 38
@Texas Tech (+10) 21
Actual Score: 62-28 Oklahoma
