Oklahoma St Cowboys 2023 College Football Preview
July 18, 2023
2022 Recap
Record – 7-6
ATS – 7-6
“Dive Dive Dive!” <Chief Klough, played by Harvey Keitel> <U-571> <2000>
The Cowboys fired out of the gate and won their first five games of the season, and that included a road win over the scrappy Baylor Bears. They subsequently lost an OT heartbreaker to TCU (!), beat the mighty Texas Longhorns, but then the season dove into the ABYSS. They lost four of their final five regular season contests and were defeated by Wisconsin in something known as the Guaranteed Rate Bowl to end the year.
Oklahoma St Cowboys 2023 Outlook
OFFENSE
The offense got stale near the end of last season and the Pokes scored 0,16,20,13,19, and 17 in their last six games. It’ll be weird to go into a campaign without Spencer Sanders as starting QB but we think it might be a good thing to get a fresh start. Alan Bowman takes over the starting gig (Michigan, Texas Tech) and he’s shown some skillzz in the past (34-18 career TD to INT). There are several youngsters behind him on the depth chart and HC Mike Gundy has a good track record with QBs so we feel good about the situation. They’ve got three decent options at RB but the hope is that sophomore Ollie Gordon develops into a legit #1 option. They lost a lot of bodies at WR/TE thru the transfer portal but they retain #1 WR Brennan Presley (813, 2 TD LY) and added a pair of new starters in WR De’zhaun Stribling (Wash St) and TE Josiah Johnson (UMass). The offensive line looks solid and features over 125 career starts. We like the look of the offense although they don’t appear to be that explosive on paper.
DEFENSE
The Cowboys defense took a big DUMP in performance LY as they allowed 29 PPG (#5 Big 12) after allowing a mere 18 PPG in 2021 (#1). Our DEEP BIG 12 INSIDERS expect improvement on this side of the football despite losing a lot of bodies to transfer and graduation including their top-two tacklers. We expect them to be much better vs the run as they’ve got a lot of size up front including a newly-acquired NT Justin Kirkland (6-4 350, Utah Tech) and DE Anthony Goodlow (Tulsa). The LB unit is in great shape with the return of 2nd Team Big 12 honoree Collin Oliver and Tulsa transfer and tackling-robot Justin Wright. We’re most concerned about the back end but we’re happy to know that 2nd Team Big 12 specimen Kendal Daniels will be roaming around. We’re a bit worried about their ability to PENETRATE as they only booked 26 sacks LY which was their lowest total in a long time.
SPECIAL TEAMS
It stinks to lose a reliable four-year starter at punter in Tom Hutton but they’ve got a pair of the best return men in the Big 12 in Brennan Presley and Jaden Nixon. PK Alex Hale’s last full season was back in 2020 but he’s hit 16-20 FG attempts in his career.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It looks really good, yo. They’ve got a great shot to go 3-0 in non-conference action but the games vs Arizona St (A) and South Alabama (H) aren’t gimmes. The set of Big 12 assignments is tasty as they miss Texas and TCU whilst getting the Sooners and Kansas St at home.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – South Alabama (Sept 16)
The Jags are gonna be really good and the Cowboys have Big 12 play on deck (at Iowa St).
Season Win Total
Market consensus
Over 6.5 +110
Under 6.5 -140
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Over
Oklahoma St hasn’t failed to win seven games since the invention of the steam engine **.
** needs fact check, but it’s probably true as long as Mike Gundy has been HC ^^
^^ fact check: see MEGAmazing Tidbit section below &&
&& you know this fact check is legit because it hasn’t been done by the Communist scumbags at Facebook
MEGAmazing Tidbit
We are NOT kidding. Oklahoma St hasn’t won fewer than seven games since 2005. That was Mike Gundy’s first season in Stillwater.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
We admit it. We’ve got a GUNDY MAN CRUSH. But let’s face it, he’s done a fantastic job with this program and it doesn’t seem to matter what the team looks like before the season. This isn’t an elite team by any means but they’ll be better on both sides of the football and the schedule is very favorable. We’ll call for seven or eight wins and who knows what could happen if they start 5-0 in Big 12 play?