McLane Stadium– Waco, TX
Kickoff: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Line: Baylor -10.0, Total: 74.0

#16 Baylor will be looking to stay perfect when the team hosts Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Oklahoma State bounced back from its embarrassing Week 2 loss against Central Michigan by defeating Pittsburgh 45-38 as a three-point home favorite last week. The Cowboys threw for 540 yards in that game and will likely be in for another big passing game against Baylor in this one. The Bears are 3-0 this season, but they have not played any tough opponents and do not have a very good defense. For that reason, this game should be very high scoring. Each of the past two games between these teams has gone OVER the total, as the teams combined for 80 points last year and 77 the year before. Oklahoma State will feel confident coming into this one, though. The Cowboys have dominated the Bears over the years, going 16-5 SU and 15-5 ATS versus Baylor since 1992. The Bears also happen to be a miserable 6-17 ATS in home games versus teams scoring 37 points or more per game since 1992.

The Cowboys have one of the more explosive offenses in the nation and will certainly need to put up a lot of points in this game. The player that needs to be watched in this one is WR James Washington (19 rec, 399 yards, 3 TD). Washington absolutely exploded in last week’s win over Pittsburgh, hauling in nine catches for 296 yards and two touchdowns. That’s an absurd 32.9 YPC and QB Mason Rudolph (1,017 yards, 6 TD, 1 INT) will definitely be trying to find him early and often on Saturday. Rudolph, meanwhile, has now thrown for two touchdowns in three straight games. He had 540 passing yards against Pittsburgh and it’d be big if he can be the best quarterback on the field in this one. Defensively, there won’t be much that Oklahoma State can do in this one. The best bet for the Cowboys would be to try to get Russell out of the pocket. He has not looked the same since coming back from last year’s brutal neck injury and Oklahoma State would be wise to make him as uncomfortable as possible in this game.

Baylor finally has itself a test on Saturday and the team will be hoping that it brings out the best in QB Seth Russell (761 yards, 9 TD, 3 INT). Russell’s numbers might seem good on the surface, but he had 15 touchdowns through three games a year ago. Russell has looked very tentative this season, but that could just be a product of head coach Jim Grobe tweaking the offense. Baylor has been running the ball a lot more this season, but the team might need to unleash the passing game against this Oklahoma State team. Defensively, the Bears would be wise to send some extra defenders at James Washington. If he is to do what he did against Pittsburgh last week then Baylor will most definitely be losing this one at home.