Kickoff: Friday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Baylor -34, Total: 67.5

No. 8 Baylor has dominated over its first two contests and looks to remain undefeated when it travels to Buffalo on Friday night.

Baylor has had no issues in its first two games, but that was expected as the team was favored by 31.5 points against SMU and 46.5 points versus Northwestern State. The Bears have outscored their opponents by a score of 115-6 and easily covered both lines while having six scoring plays of 40 yards or more. Against Northwestern State, an FCS team, they totaled an immense 720 total yards while converting 13-of-16 third downs, but surprisingly turned the ball over twice. Buffalo came away victorious in its first game, winning 38-28, but failed to cover the large 27-point spread as a home favorite against Duquesne. The Bulls followed that up with a 47-39 loss as three-point underdogs against Army in which they were down by 30 points early in the fourth quarter before cutting it down over the final 10 minutes. Turnovers did them in as they outgained the Black Knights 549 to 466, but threw three picks as they attempted to make a comeback. These programs squared off last year in Waco, TX with Baylor dominating as 28.5-point favorites, winning by a score of 70-13 while they outgained the Bulls 781 to 363 and went turnover free. Before that, the Bears had won both SU and ATS in the matchup in both 2007 and 2010, outscoring Buffalo 68-27 over the two contests. Trends show that Baylor is 23-10 ATS (70%) after gaining 525+ yards per game in its previous two contests since 1992, while the Bulls are 3-0 ATS after 2+ straight ATS defeats since the start of 2012. The injury report should be watched for this game as starting QB Bryce Petty (back) and last year’s No. 1 receiver Antwan Goodley (leg) are listed as questionable for Baylor, while Buffalo has no significant injuries on its roster.

Will the Bears cover the mammoth spread? For the answer, connect to College Football Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2014 regular season and bowl season. During the 2013 season, StatFox Dave led the experts with a 55% ATS mark (38-31-2), while Gary and Brian both finished with another winning season (51% ATS). StatFox Scott saved his best for last with a 5-2 ATS mark (71%) in college football bowl Best Bets.

Over the first two games of this year, Baylor has averaged 647 YPG (4th in FBS) while throwing for the sixth-most yards (384 YPG) and getting 263 YPG on the ground. They have done most of this without the help of last year’s Big 12 Player of the Year, QB Bryce Petty (161 yards, 2 TD), who missed last week’s game with an injured back. They will not rush his return either since QB Seth Russell, who threw for 438 yards (11.7 YPA) and 5 TD (0 INT) in their most recent contest, has done so well. The quarterback position in this offense is expected to run, and has already rushed the ball for a touchdown twice this year after Petty and Russell combined for 17 scores on the ground in 2013. The backfield has been comprised of three players so far with HBs Johnny Jefferson (164 yards, 1 TD), Shock Linwood (122 yards, 2 TD) and Silas Nicata (124 yards, 3 TD) all earning 20+ carries over two blowout victories. Linwood is the expected feature back after splitting carries with Lache Seastrunk in 2013 and totaling 881 yards (6.9 YPC) with eight touchdowns. Meanwhile, freshman WR KD Cannon was explosive against Northwestern State, going for 223 yards (37.2 avg) and already has tallied four touchdowns on the young season. WRs Davion Hall (11 rec, 164 yards, 1 TD) and Jay Lee (10 rec, 158 yards, 2 TD) have been the other workhorses in the passing game thus far with top WR Antwan Goodley missing the first two games. The Bears have not played any offenses of note so far, so the fact that they have allowed a meager 134 YPG (2nd in FBS) and 3.0 PPG (3rd in FBS) is no real surprise. Buffalo should give them a little more of a test, but LB Bryce Hager (14 tackles) hopes he can lead the team to another impressive performance.

The Buffalo offense has actually played quite well in the early going and ranks in the top-30 in total yards (510.5 YPG) while slinging the ball around for an impressive 347 YPG (16th in FBS). They have scored 38.5 PPG and have shown they can be explosive as they posted 36 points against Army in the second half of their week two loss. The Bulls have a strong offensive line with all five of their starters returning from 2013 and QB Joe Licata (694 yards, 8 TD, 4 INT) has already put forth two performances of 295+ yards. In the team’s bid to make a comeback against Army, the junior QB was 34-for-49 (69%) with 396 yards (8.1 YPA) and 5 TD while also trying to force the ball, leading to three interceptions. HB Anthone Campbell has carried the workload in the backfield with 194 yards on 46 carries (4.2 YPC) while scoring two touchdowns. He should receive a lot of help from hybrid HB/WR Devin Campbell who has rushed for 78 yards (6.5 YPC) and caught the ball eight times for 67 yards (8.4 avg) with 2 TD. The Bulls lost nearly all of their WR production from last year but seem to be rebounding quite will as five different players have six or more receptions. The leaders to come out of this group are WRs Ron Willoughby (187 yards, 2 TD) and Marcus McGill (163 yards, 2 TD) who have combined for 25 catches in the first two contests. The defense has not looked on par over the first two games, and seems to be feeling the loss of LB Khalil Mack as they have allowed 37.5 PPG with 419.5 YPG to their opponents. DB Adam Redden (16 tackles, 2 sacks) and LB Lee Skinner (15 tackles) have a tough task ahead of them with Baylor and hope they can capture some for their defensive prowess from last year when they allowed just 13.2 PPG to opponents at home.