West Virginia @ Baylor

Saturday, October 9th 11:00 AM CT, FS1

Baylor (4-1, 2-1) and West Virginia (2-3, 0-2) are two teams hungry for a win after disappointing losses last weekend. Baylor’s defense played pretty phenomenally all things considered in their loss to Oklahoma State. The offense, however, clearly has some work to do. They have been in a slump ever since the second half of the Iowa State game and have had difficulties establishing the run as they would like. West Virginia is still winless in conference play after back-to-back 3 point losses to Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The Mountaineer defense is salty, but the offense has had its share of issues with inconsistent play from quarterback Jarret Doege. Unless Baylor fixes its offensive woes in one week, I would expect this to be a low scoring game, as both teams are much stronger on the defensive side of the ball as of now. Baylor is favored by three points as of the writing of this preview.

13-10 Baylor

#6 Oklahoma vs. #21 Texas

Saturday, October 9th 11:00 AM CT, ABC

I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted a double loss in a game as much as I do in this one. #6 Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0) has continued to squeak by opponents with fairly lackluster offensive performances. Kansas State was the latest victim of that. They are clearly flawed, but I’m beginning to wonder if anyone can take advantages of those flaws in conference play. #21 Texas (4-1, 2-0) has continued to look improved since their loss to Arkansas, although their game against TCU last weekend was a bit closer than the Longhorns probably would have liked. One of these teams will walk away with its first conference loss this weekend. I actually like Texas here as I think they have shown more upside in recent weeks than Oklahoma. The Sooners are three point favorites as of now.

28-23 Texas

TCU @ Texas Tech

Saturday, October 9th 6:00 PM CT, ESPN

Texas Tech (4-1, 1-1) got a HUGE win on the road in Morgantown over the weekend. After getting absolutely demolished by Texas the week prior, I was wondering if such a beatdown would risk collapsing the Red Raiders’ morale and season. Tech rebounded in a huge way and got a conference win against West Virginia. TCU (2-2, 0-1) is looking to bounce back in a similar way after back-to-back disappointing losses to SMU and Texas. TCU’s run defense was exposed last weekend as Bijan Robinson ran for over 200 yards and two touchdowns. However, that might be more a product of Robinson’s ability. We’ll see how the Horned Frogs do against a good, but not potentially Heisman-caliber running attack from the Red Raiders. TCU is a 1.5 point favorite for now, but I like the Red Raiders as quarterback Henry Colombi seems to be finding his groove.

38-31 Texas Tech

FieldinOfDreams’ 2021 Prediction Record through Week 5: 31-8