Baylor vs. Albany: Prediction Thread

MATCHUP: #10 Baylor Bears (—) vs. Albany Great Danes (—)
LOCATION: Waco, Texas
ODB GAME HUB: Baylor Bears vs. Albany Great Danes 2022
PODCASTS: OurDailyPodcast | Please Bear With Me | Bear Den | TD Podcast (SE365) | Locked on Baylor
ODB QUICK HITTER: Albany
ODB DEPTH CHART POSTS: Here and Here.
ODB FIRST LOOK: Albany.
ODB STATS PREVIEW: Albany.
WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE: Albany
BAYLOR GAME NOTES (INCLUDING DEPTH CHART): Here.
ALBANY GAME NOTES: From Albany.
BAYLORBEARS.COM PREVIEW: Here.
SPREAD: Baylor -42.5, O/U 44.5
TV COVERAGE: ESPN+ and ESPN App
UNIFORM: PICKLE

Since we already have so much going on in various threads this week, I’m going to keep this pretty brief and focus on the ODB staff predictions for tomorrow’s game, including my own, and then give you a chance to weigh in.

We have a good (and growing!) crew here at ODB, and I polled them (and a few friends of the blog) for their thoughts:

• Matt Wilson (@mattisbear): Baylor 45, Albany 3
• Peter Pope (@pbpope): Baylor 49, Albany 3
• David Fankhauser (@dfank_bu): Baylor 57, Albany 4 (don’t see a lot of 4s, generally)
• Amy Pagitt (@AGP4BU): Baylor 69, Albany 3
• Etta (@bayloretta): Baylor 48, Albany 1
• Evan Hebert (@evanhebert): Baylor 63, Albany 12
• Joe Goodman (@the_joe_goodman): Baylor 49, Albany 0
• Cody Orr (@cody_orr): Baylor 52, Albany 10
• Michael Nichols (@pckt_chng): Baylor 31, Albany 10
• Jenna Patteson (@jenp108): Baylor 66, Albany 3
• Will Boles (@_willboles): Baylor 66, Albany 17
• Jed Johnston (@BearMySoul17): Baylor 55, Albany 10
• Scott Byrne (@BearNTX): Baylor 63, Albany 7
• Branden MacKinnon (@Branden_MacK): Baylor 63, Albany 0

If someone isn’t listed here, it isn’t that we don’t love them or value their opinions. They just didn’t respond in time for this thread. If you see someone listed above that you don’t follow on Twitter, you should do that! If you saw this and thought “wow, I should really be in this thread,” then message me, and we can get it sorted.

I’ll add my $.02—Baylor should and probably will absolutely destroy this team, which is not among the best of even FCS. The question is by how much. Vegas (one book, really) has this as a 42.5-point spread. I don’t have solid numbers for this, but in my observation spreads that large rarely cover. When they do, it is typically in a game where the final score is something like what Amy, Jenna, Will, Scott, and Branden predicted—66-3 or thereabouts.

I’m going to go somewhat lower than those folks, primarily because it is the first game of the season, I assume we will see a tremendous amount of rotation on both sides, and the weather may not cooperate for a high-flying game. I think Baylor will win comfortably and perhaps even cover, but it won’t be a Texas Southern-esque 66-7.

My Prediction: Baylor 52, Albany 13