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Missouri vs Oklahoma State
Betting Line Favors Oklahoma State by a Touchdown
10/17/09
Oklahoma State were blindsided by the suspension of their star WR Dez Bryant from the NCAA. There is still a chance that Bryant will be able to play this coming Saturday, but with or without him this Cowboy team is more than capable of winning games. In their first game without Bryant the Cowboys were able to pull out a 36-31 victory over Texas A&M. Oklahoma State has bounced back nicely since their stunning loss to Houston, and are looking to prove to the rest of the Big 12 that they are still one of the elite teams, and are a legit Big 12 South contender.
For that to happen they have to have this win over Missouri, but Missouri is
also looking to prove the exact same thing that they are a legit Big 12 North
contender. Missouri went from being on top of the world being up 12-0 going into
the 4th quarter to looking for a place to hide after Nebraska scored 27 points
in the 4th quarter to win 27-12. It will be very interesting to see how this
Missouri team will bounce back after such a heartbreaking defeat. We will know
after this game whether this Missouri Tiger team is a contender or pretender
come Saturday night.
PRIMETIME MATCHUP
Missouri’s QB Blaine Gabbet had a game he would like to forget last Thursday
against Nebraska. That Nebraska defense was all over him all night and he went
17/43 for 134 yards and 2 INT’s. The rain was coming down for most of that game
so that also did play a part in his performance, but there are no excuses come
Saturday. He needs to show that the numbers he was putting up early in the
season were legit. This is a very good game for him to get things going.
The Oklahoma State defense is 10th in the Big 12 in pass defense giving up 241
yards per game. It has been obvious that this secondary has been the problem
with the Cowboy defense. In their upset loss to Houston they gave up 366 yards
and 3 TD’s threw the air, and this past Saturday against Texas A&M they gave up
273 yards and 3 TD’s. This is where the game is either going to be won or lost,
but it is not all on this Cowboy secondary. The reason Gabbert had such a bad
game against Nebraska was because they put pressure on him, and he was running
for his life for most of the game. This Oklahoma State defensive line has got to
get pressure on Gabbert and put him into bad situations. If they make Gabbet
make throws before he wants to that will make the Cowboy secondary’s job a whole
lot easier.
THE FINAL VERDICT
One team’s hopes of representing their division in the Big 12 title game are
going to be all but lost come Saturday night. It would seem that this Missouri
passing attack would have the advantage of this Oklahoma State defense, but
Gabbert gave the Cowboy Defensive Coordinator a lot to work with after watching
his last performance. Gabbert is still a young QB, and this is his first year as
the starter, and for the first time he looked rattled when he had pressure in
his face all night.
We expect this Oklahoma State defense to do whatever it takes to make Gabbert’s
night as uncomfortable as possible, and they should be able to get some key
turnovers to help their offense. Also Missouri just lost a heartbreaking loss in
a game where they should have won. A loss like that can easily affect a team for
the rest of the year, so if Missouri cant get that game behind them they are
going to have problems all night.
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