Oklahoma St Cowboys 2022 College Football Preview
July 23, 2022
2021 Recap
Record – 12-2
ATS – 10-4
“It would kill some men to come this close to your dream and not touch it.” <Ray Kinsella> <Field of Dreams>
The Pokes started the season by winning six straight games before losing a tough one at Iowa St (L 24-21). They won their next four contests by a whopping combined margin of 165-23 (!!) and then punched their ticket to the Big 12 Championship with a thrilling 37-33 victory over the Sooners. Oklahoma St gave it their all in the big game but fell LITERALLY a yard short of beating Baylor (L 21-16). The season ended on a strong note with a yuuuge comeback win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl (W 37-35) and they finished with an excellent record of 12-2.
Oklahoma St Cowboys 2022 Outlook
OFFENSE
This wasn’t YO MOMMA’S Oklahoma St offense LY as they had to grind for everything they got (#8 Big 12 yards per play). Veteran QB Spencer Sanders returns to lead the attack in 2022 and he’s a talented dual-threat (2,839 yards passing, 668 rushing) who’s only weakness still appears to be the dreaded turnover bug (20-12 TD to INT LY, 50-31 career). Losing 1,000-yard WR Tay Martin certainly stings but everyone else is back and note that they don’t call this program WR UNIVERSITY ** for nothing. There’s a good chance they’ll find a way to develop a #1 stud. Losing 1,200-yard RB Jaylen Warren is a bigger concern but they’ll be able to piece together a decent rotation given the bodies they have on board including promising true freshman Ollie Gordon. The OL is less experienced than LY but should be fine even with the probable season-ending injury to Cole Birmingham. The Pokes allowed just 17 sacks LY (#11 FBS SA / game) and it’s probably gonna be tough to repeat that excellent performance. Mike Gundy always finds a way to make the offense work but it doesn’t appear that there are too many gamebreakers on offense as we approach press time.
** fact check sorta true
DEFENSE
Oklahoma St was crazy good on defense LY as they allowed a mere 18 PPG (#9 FBS) and 88 YPG on the ground (#5 FBS), all whilst tallying an impossible 56 (!) sacks (ROLL TIDE, 57). There’s gonna be a significant drop in performance this year as they lose their top-four tacklers along with ace DC Jim Knowles. They were a veteran group LY and that won’t be the case in 2022. Thankfully, the DL still appears to be in fine shape with the return of DEs Collin Oliver and Brock Martin (combined 20.5 sacks LY) and they’ve got good size inside. Only one starter returns in the back seven in safety Jason Taylor and we worry about the Cowboys being able to handle the more potent offenses on the schedule. They’ll still be an above-average Big 12 bunch but the ceiling is relatively low.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Pokes are in great shape with everyone back for battle including their fine PK Tanner Brown (17-21 FG, 36-36 XP LY) and dangerous PR/KR Brennan Pressley (KR TD in 2021, 32.7).
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It looks pretty good. A 3-0 start is essentially a foregone conclusion and then they get a bye week before conference play begins with a revenge game at Baylor. They face Oklahoma and Baylor ON THE HIGHWAY but get Texas at home. The tough Big 12 games are well spread out.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – October 15 – at TCU
This battle takes place before the Cowboys’ home game with Texas and we’re sure that TCU will be looking to avenge LY’s epic slaughter in which they allowed a 63-BURGER in a 46-point loss.
Season Win Total
per BetOnline July 23
Over 8 -125
Under 8 -105
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Under
The schedule isn’t that tough but nine wins feels like a stretch.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
MIKE GUNDY MAN CRUSH is still in FULL EFFECT for college football prognosticators as he went 10-4 ATS LY bringing his mark over the L10Y to an incredible 73-52-4 vs the spread (58.4%).
MEGALOCKS Outlook:
Many a fortune has been lost by underestimating the Cowboys but we just don’t view this team as Championship material. The offense will be fine, but nothing special, and the internal alarm bells are going RINGY DINGY DINGY when we think about the defense. We’ll forecast seven or eight wins and another bowl appearance for one of the most underrated programs in college football.
Want more Oklahoma St football ?
WEBSITE
https://okstate.com/sports/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://www.pistolsfiringblog.com/category/football/
https://www.cowboysrideforfree.com/
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/197/oklahoma-state-cowboys
Mitigated the Jim Knowles loss bringing in Derick Mason .. real good and maybe helpful they swap for another solid that opponents are likely unfamiliar with ..
Sanders doesn’t seem much better than he did in ’19 or ’20 .. seems like he hits his #1 WR or he might be off scrambling .. maybe he’s better picking up the 2nd/3rd read now but seen him panic and scramble too often, never seems he’ll make a pass play at that point .. maybe pick up a couple yds but better defenses really limit what he can do w his legs .. boise 13 non sacks runs 3 yds / run .. nearly had em in that one! .. clones got’em .. baylor gottem in the champ game .. and plenty of games the legs helped but only scoring mid 20’s .. but yeah if he’s not helping on the ground eek’n out a few first downs it’ll be tough to cover w out super elite defense .. maybe putting a few games in jeopardy this year ..
Seems like the BIG RISK is if they lose Scramblin Sanders .. illingsworth gone and it’ll be 4 star True Fr Garrett Rangel or drumroll … GUNNER GUNDY!!!! .. just guessing Gun Gun will get first crack .. maybe he’s good idk but coache’s son QB’s don’t have the best track record ..
Gundy def needs one of these guys to be ready though and already count on Pokes slowing things down in H2’s think they had a world record of not scoring in Q3 for a while .. but yeah any time Pokes start rompin I’ll be looking for an under play .. in-game points projections might not keep up with how fast their offense might die off .. maybe we get that situation vs ASU or C.Mich .. both are pretty run heavy clock burners so would just lean to an under anyway but esp if OK.St is well out in front .. pokes DL is 3 layers deep of pure nastiness so nobody getting a break from them all game ..
Ya dood Mason a pretty good replacement but lots of work to be done also not sure i trust your pal Sanders i mean he’s good but probably isn’t getting any better at this point. Great point about the backup QB situation yikes and it’s not like Sanders hasn’t been banged up before yo.