Big 12 Betting Line Easy Pick’ems: Weekend Of Oct. 19

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s what we learned about the Big 12 last week: hardly anything. Baylor was finally held to a reasonable point total, but K-State controlled the clock and largely stifled the Bears (although maybe it was just Wildcat fans that weren’t surprised about this outcome). I figured Oklahoma would destroy Texas, but the Longhorns played their first good game of the year and destroyed the Sooners. I did correctly pick Iowa State to play Texas Tech close, but had no idea how close the Cyclones keep it. This week I promise perfection (or something to that effect).

Texas Tech (-6) at West Virginia
The Red Raiders had members of the media fighting to be the first to jump off the Tech bandwagon following a difficult win against lowly Iowa State. And now they have to travel to West Virginia, where the Mountaineers have enjoyed a bye week to prepare for the game. The injury situation at quarterback is keeping Tech from being a full touchdown favorite in this one, as West Virginia still doesn’t have the horses to keep up in this match. Prediction: Texas Tech 32, West Virginia 25 (over)

Texas Christian at Oklahoma State (-7.5)
Still confused about how the Cowboys fell to West Virginia, but poor turnovers by K-State are the only reason Oklahoma State isn’t 0-2 in conference play. The team was close to a free-fall heading into last week’s bye, and we’ll see whether the time off was able to right the ship. TCU has been the most disappointing team in the Big 12 this year – no contest. This is a match up of two disappointing teams, and all else equal, take the home team. The question is whether Oklahoma State can win by more than one score. I’ll go out on a limb and say yes. Prediction: Oklahoma State 21, TCU 13 (over)

Iowa State at Baylor (-33)
K-State wrote the script on how to slow Baylor down. However, Iowa State doesn’t have the talent to emulate the strategy. Iowa State’s run game is starting to show some life, which is a start if the Cyclones hope to control the clock, but the defensive line will fail to contain Lanche Seastrunk and, although the secondary has been underrated up in Ames the past couple years, there’s no way Bryce Petty has a difficult time finding receivers to run downfield and score touchdowns. But what if Baylor only wins by four scores? In probably my worst pick of the week, I’m predicting Iowa State to cover. Prediction: Baylor 58, Iowa State 32 (under)

And now, for this week’s easy pick’em. It’s that simple choice that just can’t whiff, and you can take that to the bank. What’s more, after an embarrassing 2-3 start to the season in this slot, I finally righted myself by predicting Texas Tech would destroy KU and then rode Texas Tech again, predicting the Red Raiders wouldn’t cover to go 4-3 on the year. I return to the team that got me on the right track in the first place – the Jayhawks, losing by an embarrassing amount:

Oklahoma (-23) at Kansas
The Jayhawks may be facing the most unfortunate game of the year in Big 12 play this weekend. Oklahoma walked into the Red River Rivalry as the nation’s top ranked team in the league, and left having been humiliated by a struggling Texas squad. The Sooners will be angry and out for blood. KU beat Louisiana Tech 13-10 this year, which means it has a victory over an FBS team this year, so that’s something I guess. There’s not much more I can tout in support of the Jayhawks. Obviously OU goes home with a ‘W’ – question is whether is by more than three touchdowns. Bob Stoops doesn’t call off the dogs until late, hoping to prove to pollsters that last week was an aberration (and for the record, I still don’t think this is a top-15 team). Prediction: Oklahoma 42, KU 13 (over easy, like I like my eggs)