Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane Betting Picks

Date: Saturday, September 19th
Time: 12:00 PM ET
Venue: Boone Pickens Stadium
Network: ESPN
Spread: OKST -22.5
O/U: 66

QB Zach Smith is returning for his senior year after throwing for 3,279 yards and 19 TD’s a season ago. The entire offense is returning nine of 11 starters, with just their third-leading receiver and LT graduating. Head Coach Phillip Montgomery is entering his sixth season and should be on the hot seat after going 4-8 a season ago. 

The explosive RB duo of Shamari Brooks and Corey Taylor II is one of the best in the conference and T.K. Wilkerson adds a nice punch at the goal line. The three combined for 1,720+ yards and 18 scores while averaging the second-most YPG in the conference. 

Leading receivers Keylon Stokes (1,040 Yds, 6 TD) and Sam Crawford Jr. (777 Yds, 5 TD) both return and Smith will be leaning on the pair heavily with Keenen Johnson and Josh Johnson out of the mix. JuanCarlos Santana will step into the WR3 spot and it’ll be him and Crawford Jr. on the outside with the ever-explosive Stokes manning the slot. 

Tulsa figures to fall behind early in this game and will have to throw with success and efficiency if they want to remain in this game. The Oklahoma State Cowboys defense ranked 113th in the nation against the pass and they’ll allow the Golden Hurricane to stay in this game if Smith stays responsible with the football. 

The 11th ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys enter the season with higher expectations than ever. They’re coming off an 8-4 season where they lost a disappointing 24-21 bowl game to the Texas A&M Aggies. 

The Cowboys fell apart when they were forced to operate without one of the best receivers in the nation in Tylan Wallace, who tore his ACL in late October.  He, along with nine other starters on this offense will return and there is immense NFL talent on the roster. 

Chuba Hubbard is back! If you were a College Football fan in 2019, you know the name. He was the best back in the nation and would’ve been a 2nd round pick if he went to the big show. He’s the anchor of this offense, but QB Spencer Sanders and Tylan Wallace are two of the more explosive options in the country in their own right. 

Sanders is a dual-threat killer that will punish defenses a ton this year. He had a few growing pains in 2019, but overall looked like a top-10 CFB QB and a guy that will end up being drafted in the first five rounds of the NFL draft. Wallace is going to be a 1st round pick if he stays healthy and don’t be surprised to see Hubbard catapulted to that status by season end. 

These two teams faced off in week three of last year and the Cowboys took a 40-21 win. Hubbard ran all over the defense with 256 yards and three scores while averaging nearly 10 YPC. The versatility of this offense is going to give the Hurricane fits. 

If the Golden Hurricane react to last season by stacking a nine-man box, Sanders is going to throw for 400+ yards to the likes of Tylan Wallace and Dillon Stoner. If they stick to their base defense, Hubbard will just run all over them once again.

The Tulsa offense isn’t terrible by any means, but Zach Smith too often gets in his own way and the Oklahoma State defense is set to improve in 2020. Give me the Cowboys up to 24 points here as they look to blast through into the top-10. 

The matchup between these two teams ended with a total of 61 points last year, but I’m not sure that tells the whole story. There were five empty red zone trips in that game and another six drives that went scoreless after passing the 50. Both offenses should be better this year and neither defense is anything to worry about. 

We also saw overs hit at nearly 65% in week one and it’s far from a surprise. There hasn’t been much tackling going on at an already limited camp. Give me the over here as this game profiles as a shootout and the Cowboys will approach 50.