2019 Baylor Football Opponent Quick-Hitter: Oklahoma State

Opponent: Oklahoma State

Nickname: The Cowboys

Kickoff: October 19th, TBD

Location: Boone Pickens Stadium

Conference: Big XII

Head coach: Mike Gundy

Last year’s record: 7-6

Notable outcomes: Lost to Baylor 35-31; Beat Texas 38-35; Lost to Oklahoma 48-47

Key losses: Justice Hill, RB; Justin Phillips, LB; Jordan Brailford, DE

Strength: Wide Receivers. Oklahoma State returns star Tylan Wallace at wide receiver who led the team in catches and touchdowns. He was a Biletnikoff finalist and has a number of other good receivers around him to ensure teams can’t just completely focus on shutting him down.

Weakness: Defensive line. The entire starting line and two backups are gone as the Cowboys have to completely rebuild in the defensive trenches. They did receive a couple of key transfers but the position will still certainly be a work in progress.

Prediction: This prediction in many ways feels like the opposite of last week’s Tech preview. A lot of people are pretty high on Oklahoma State. I don’t get that. They have question marks throughout the entire defensive front seven where they have to replace a number of key stars. Offensively, the Cowboys lost coordinator Mike Yurich to Ohio State and replace him with Sean Gleeson from Princeton. While many are high on Gleeson, there will likely be some growing pains with the jump from FCS to FBS. Further, likely quarterback starter Spencer Sanders is a true freshman. Everything says he’ll be great down the line, but he might very well make some freshman mistakes throughout year one. For all those reasons, I don’t think Oklahoma State will be nearly as good as a number of predictions have them. Stillwater has been a traditionally difficult place for Baylor to play, however the Bears have a 4-1 record against the Cowboys over the past 5 years. Their only loss came during the 1-11 2017 season. I think Baylor matches up favorably against Oklahoma State, even on the road. Charlie Brewer ought to be able to take care of a weakened defense and Baylor’s defense should see a third year boost in the Matt Rhule/Phil Snow system.

38-28 Baylor