The Big 12 action from here on out will have a significant impact on this conference race. Without a true weak link in the 10-team conference, each week can be when a pretender morphs into a contender and vice versa. And before this Dad gets to savor the Dad tax from his children’s Halloween candy pull, he needs to avoid another trick like last week’s winners. Both ATS and totals pushed at 2-2, while just picking the winner of the games straight up was an ugly 1-3. But let’s get ready for all the treats that these Big 12 week nine winners will bring us all! As always, all lines and totals are courtesy of BetMGM.
Season Straight Up: 34-16
Season ATS: 23-18-2
Season Totals: 20-23
Big 12 Week Nine Winners
#7 TCU At West Virginia (+7.5)
Upset special right out of the gate for this crop of Big 12 week nine winners. TCU has to be emotionally drained after two thrilling home victories against ranked teams. Both games required comebacks from three scores down, and one of which needed overtime to finish the job. It has been quite a ride head coach Sonny Dykes has conducted in his first year. TCU is the more talented team for sure. But sometimes, those 18-22-year-olds start reading too many Twitter/Instagram headlines about how good they are.
A noon kickoff in a historically tough place to play could result in a sleepy start to a TCU team that is in unfamiliar territory and being the hunted. West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is under plenty of pressure to win. This is just one of those games where the college football gods look down upon Morgantown, kick in all the ingredients for a high-scoring shootout, and the Mountaineers don’t waste the opportunity.
Straight Up: West Virginia ATS: West Virginia Total 69: Over
Oklahoma (-1.5) At Iowa State
It is highly unlikely that Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables will be able to make major corrections to his horrid defense this season. But both teams are coming off a bye week, and that gave this Sooner offense a chance to get healthy and have extra preparation for one of the best defenses in the country. Iowa State very well could be 4-0 instead of 0-4 in conference play if the ball bounced differently one or two times in each of their games. Iowa State has the exact opposite problem as Oklahoma. The Cyclones have been pretty putrid offensively. So something has to give for either the Sooner defense or the Cyclone offense. Expect the Iowa State defense to play another good game, but Oklahoma’s offense is going to be too much as Iowa State drops another one-score game to fall to 0-5.
Straight Up: Oklahoma ATS: Oklahoma Total 55.5: Under
#9 Oklahoma State (+1.5) At #22 Kansas State
This game is hard to project due to the unknown status of Kansas State quarterback Adrian Martinez. According to Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein, Martinez will be a game-time decision on Saturday. Backup quarterback Will Howard, who played most of the game against TCU last week, is a capable quarterback. But the overall rushing attack will take a step back in Martinez is unable to play. It does mark the third consecutive game that Oklahoma State enters the game as the betting underdog.
That is pretty remarkable since Oklahoma State has not been ranked any worse than 12th nationally all season. In this same streak, Last Word picked them to beat TCU and lose to Texas. I’m sure Oklahoma State would hope that the Big 12 week nine winners see the trend shift in their favor. Head Coach Mike Gundy seems to have instilled a level of composure and resiliency that serves this Oklahoma State team well. Even if Martinez does play, these teams are pretty evenly matched. So let’s take the team getting points and has shown that no moment is too big for them to handle.
Straight Up: Oklahoma State ATS: Oklahoma State Total 56.5: Under
Baylor At Texas Tech (-2.5)
It will be a fun night in Lubbock, Texas when these two rivals get together. If Texas Tech can avoid negative plays against this attacking Baylor defense, then Patrick Mahomes and Red Raider faithful will be celebrating a victory into the late hours of the night.
Straight Up: Texas Tech ATS: Texas Tech Total 62.5: Over
