Big 12 Betting Line Easy Pick’ems: Weekend of November 2

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa State at Kansas State (-17)

This game opened lower, but quickly jumped to a 17-point victory by K-State and has hovered there ever since. There’s a lot of optimism in Manhattan right now despite the team’s losing record – and for good reason. Fresh off a dismantlement of West Virginia, the Wildcats must finish 3-2 to reach a bowl game but face a relatively passive schedule to get there. They need only finish 2-2 after Saturday. Prediction: K-State 38, Iowa State 19 (over)

West Virginia at TCU (-13)

West Virginia only managed 12 points against K-State, and must now go up against an equally potent defense in Fort Worth. Casey Pachall’s return is the great hope to get TCU’s wide receivers involved and the offense scoring points. Maybe. But TCU is 95th in the country in scoring for a reason: it’s not very good at scoring. West Virginia isn’t very good at scoring either (97th), but also can’t play defense (84th nationally). TCU’s defense is good. So West Virginia will score nothing, and TCU will score slightly more than that. There won’t be enough points scored to cover a 13-point spread. Prediction: TCU 12, West Virginia 8 (under)

Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (-2)

In what could be the only entertaining game of the weekend in the Big 12 (seriously, this league has been the most disappointing heap of football in 2013), Oklahoma State and Texas Tech face off in what is essentially an elimination game for the Big 12 Championship, as both have suffered one league loss and can’t afford a second. Texas Tech lost a close one at Oklahoma last week, while Oklahoma State fell to West Virginia in an early-season game that’s still got me scratching my head. The Cowboys obviously had the worse loss, but I’m not ready to give up on my preseason pick to win the Big 12 quite yet. Prediction: Oklahoma State 39, Texas Tech 34 (under/upset)

KU at Texas (-28)

KU had a ballyhooed recruiting class full of highly rated junior college recruits ready to make an immediate impact this year. I’m still waiting for them to do something other than get in trouble on Mass Street. On the flip side, Texas appears to have fully turned its season around and Mack Brown may be contending for a Big 12 title for the first time in a long while. This matchup will feature two of the league’s top five running backs in UT’s Johnathan Gray and KU’s James Sims. However, Sims is about the only place on the field the Jayhawks aren’t badly outmatched. Maybe this would be closer in Lawrence, but not in Austin. Prediction: Texas 42, Kansas 15 (under)