College Football Predictions – Oklahoma St Cowboys 2019 College Football Preview
2018 Recap
Record – 7-6
ATS – 8-5
The Pokes blazed out of the gate with three wins in a row including an impressive butt-kicking of Boise St. Things took an unforeseen turn to TURD TOWN after a win over Kansas as they lost four of the next five Big 12 match-ups. A Liberty Bowl win got these guys to 7-6 in what has to be categorized as a disappointing campaign. But fear not. Mike Gundy is one of the best head coaches around and has not had a losing season here since 2005. Impressive.
Does Oklahoma St have enough talent to dream bigger than another bowl invite? Let’s take a look.
2019 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating
Big 12 – #6
Oklahoma St Cowboys 2019 Outlook
OFFENSE
The Cowboys’ offense has the chance to be potent yet again if they can find a new QB to run the show. Taylor Cornelius threw for almost 4,000 yards and 32 TDs last year and it’s unclear who will start this season under center. The smart money is on redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders who is a highly-recruited specimen with excellent mobility. Former Hawaii signal-caller Dru Brown is also in the mix and don’t forget that he has over 5,000 passing yards at the FBS level.
The rest of the offense looks dynamite, even without star RB Justice Hill who left early for the NFL (Ravens). Chuba Hubbard and LD Brown should form a nice combo on a team that always gets production out of the RB spot. It’s also good to know that WIDE RECEIVER U is up to their old tricks with AA wideout Tylan Wallace back in the mix and he is coming off a great season in which he racked up almost 1,500 yards receiving and 12 TDs (17.3). There is plenty of depth at receiver and keep an eye on intriguing redshirt freshman CJ Moore. All of this is packaged together with a good-looking offensive line that returns four starters including 2nd Team Big 12 honoree LG Marcus Keyes.
Oklahoma St has bagged 38+ PPG in each of the last four seasons (38.4 LY) and we forecast a similar level of output even with a new QB.
DEFENSE
The Oklahoma St defense was awful last year allowing the most PPG in school history (32.5). They gave up 30 or more points in each of their final eight games including the bowl loss to Missouri. 2nd year DC Jim Knowles did good work at Duke but has his work cut out for him again this season with only five returning starters, and just one in the DL and LB corps combined. A run defense that was gashed for 185 YPG LY (DEAD LAST Big 12) might have to pull a few magic tricks to be decent this year. The Pokes managed to bag an impressive 39 sacks a season ago but move on without their top-two in Jordan Brailford (9) and Jarell Owens (6). The secondary has a ton of experience and a legit talent in CB AJ Green (1st Team Big 12 LY) but the Cowboys only picked off 5 (!) passes all of last season. That is even more amazing when you consider that teams had 452 attempts and were often under duress from the Pokes’ pass rush.
This still appears to be one of the weaker stop units in the Big 12.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The group was decent across the board last year and returns most of the key elements other than the two men that shared the punting duty. PK Matt Ammendola was just 7/13 on FG attempts of 30+ yards LY.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It’s manageable. They should start the season at 3-0 before heading to Austin for a tough battle with the Longhorns. From October 5th onward the Pokes only have three road games. Two byes. Sweet.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Tulsa (September 14)
The Cowboys dial this one up a week before Big 12 play starts (at Texas). Fellow in-state squad Tulsa will bring their best effort.
Season Win Total
Over 7.5 +120
Under 7.5 -140
MEGALOCKS says:
The defense scares the living daylights out of us but they should be able to find seven wins. Getting that eighth win may be a challenge. Lean to the ‘under’.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
Your pal JIMMY JOHNSON coached the Cowboys to a record of 30-25-2 (.544) from 1979-1983 before heading off to do great things with YOUR beloved Miami Hurricanes.
Oklahoma St is 7-2 in their last nine bowl games and an impressive 19-10 overall.
MEGALOCKS ATS Outlook: Neutral
It promises to be another interesting season in Stillwater. The offense should be great and we have good vibes about their young QB. The defense looks just as bad (or worse) than what was brought to the table a season ago so it’s hard to see them get through the Big 12 slate without two or three losses.
We say it every year. Mike Gundy is the MAN when it comes to covering the point spread. They have a ten-year run going at a 58% clip, and keep in mind that they were an impressive 8-5 vs the number last season with the worst defense in school history (PPG). We can’t trust them to stop anyone BUT can’t endorse fading them on a consistent basis. Pick your spots.
Want more Oklahoma St football ?
WEBSITE
http://www.okstate.com/index.aspx?path=football&
FORUM
https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma-state/Board/Cowboy-Corner-103592/
https://www.orangepower.com/forum/osu-sports-forum.4/
https://oklahomastate.forums.rivals.com/forums/the-corral.28/
NEWS
http://bleacherreport.com/oklahoma-state-football
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/teams/oklahoma-st-cowboys
http://www.pistolsfiringblog.com/category/football/
https://www.cowboysrideforfree.com/
TWITTER
Hashtag – #GoPokes
Accounts to follow