Oklahoma Sooners @ Baylor Bears – Kansas State Wildcats @ Texas Longhorns

Oklahoma Sooners (-15) @ Baylor Bears
The Sooners are a very good team that gets stuck in their own shoes from time to time. They very well could come out in this game, on the road at Baylor, and get in an unnecessary shootout with the Bears. That could happen, no doubt. But the truth is that Oklahoma is an entire level (or two) above the Bears. I’ve seen Baylor be out-athleted a few times already this season, and Oklahoma is the most talented team they’ve played this year – so it could get ugly. I know that Robert Griffin III has become a surgeon with the football. He’s completing nearly 75% of his passes and has 29 TDs to just 5 INTs through the first 9 games of the season. But against the two most talented defenses he’s faced, his numbers haven’t been enough. They have a defense that gives up 36 points per game. That’s going to be an open invitation to the end zone for the Sooners.

Kansas State Wildcats (+8.5) @ Texas Longhorns
If you’ve followed my picks at all this year, you’ll know that I’m not real fond of the Longhorns, and quite frankly see them to be overrated. Well, they were. Now they are out of the Top 25 (though it may be by just a hair, and they’d move back in with a win this week). They just don’t do a ton of things real well, but they are athletic and talented, and there’s certainly some young upside with the Longhorns. The Wildcats are almost the opposite. They are seasoned and they are tough and they aren’t super talented or athletic. But they do a couple things really well. They hold the ball. They produce long drives and convert in 3rd down situations because it’s usually short yardage. Their quarterback is their leader, their motor, and he’s a good one that controls the game. I don’t know who I like to win, but 8.5 points seems like too much – even though one of my favorite systems says take the Longhorns. I just don’t believe in them this year, and this line is too high.