Oklahoma State Cowboys at Texas Longhorns Betting Preview

Opening point spread odds - total lines at 5Dimes : Cowboys -6.5 / Longhorns +6.5 O/U 56

Time: 8 PM EST Saturday November 13, 2010 on ABC / ESPN3

Could thing get any worse for Texas (4-5)? They have lost 5 of their last 6 games, have lost 3 straight at home for this first time since 1997, and this Saturday host an Oklahoma State (8-1) squad that has a dynamic offense and ranks 3rd in the nation in points scored per game. OSU is in the driver’s seat to play in the Big 12 Championship game, but beating Texas in Austin is no cakewalk and in their last game of the season they host 16th ranked Oklahoma.

Betting on Texas this season has not won people much money since they are 2-7 ATS while Oklahoma State is 7-2 ATS. Texas has not been a good wagering team for the last few seasons, but the Cowboys have only covered the spread 3 times in their last 11 games facing them.

In their last games Texas lost to Kansas State 39-14 while Oklahoma State beat Baylor 55-28.

Oklahoma State and their 3rd ranked passing offense is led by QB Brandon Weeden, who had a stellar game against Baylor last week passing for 435 yards with 3 TD. The Cowboys also feature the Big 12’s leading rusher in RB Kendall Hunter and last week WR Justin Blackmon returned from his 1-game suspension and racked up 242 yards of offense (173 receiving, 69 rushing) and a TD. How good is the OSU offense? Well, they had 725 yards of total offense last week against Baylor and they have scored over 50 points in 4 games this season.

Texas has the nation’s 5th ranked defense, but while they only gave up 9 passing yards last week to Kansas State they gave up 261 yards on the ground.

It’s the same old song and dance for Texas, as turnovers have absolutely killed them this season and in the loss to Kansas State they have 5 of them. The Longhorns had 412 yards of offense and Kansas State only had 270 and Texas still lost by 25 points. QB Garrett Gilbert was responsible for all the turnovers with 5 picks last week and this season he has 7 TD and 14 INT. This week he will be facing an Oklahoma State passing defense that only ranks 113th in the nation, but he cannot turn the ball over or Texas will get killed. The Longhorns rank 110th in the nation in turnovers lost with 23.

Oklahoma State is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games, 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 road games, and has an Over record of 7-2 this season.

Texas is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games, 2-10 ATS in their last 12 games, and has an Under record of 6-2 in their last 8 home games.

Our Selection : Yes the Longhorns have lost 4 of their last 5 games and 3 in a row after their upset win over the Cornhuskers, but they are not losing these games because of a lack of talent. Execution is the key as red zone mistakes and turnovers (-5 last week T/O ration last week) have been the culprit. Look for Texas to be totally focused this week and give the Cowboys all they can handle. We're going to make the call for an outright win and play this game on the moneyline.
Take the Texas Longhorns +180 on the moneyline at Sportsbook.com.


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