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Texas Favored by 13 over Missouri at BetUS.com
10/24/09
Texas Travels to Missouri Saturday and hopes to avoid a post Oklahoma letdown when they take in the Tigers. The Longhorns are a 13 point favorite at Betus.com with a total of 50.5.
This Texas Longhorn team was able to get past their biggest test of the year
with a 16-13 victory in the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma. With the way the
Longhorns schedule stacks up it looks like they have a clear shot right to the
BCS title game, but Coach Mack Brown has got to keep his team’s mind on the task
at hand.
We have seen this 2009 football season that anything can happen, and if Texas is
going to finish the year off undefeated they must take it game by game. First up
is the Missouri Tigers.
Missouri started the year off hot with 4 wins including a 37-9 victory over
Illinois, but things have started to head south. They suffered a heartbreaking
27-12 loss to Nebraska in a game where they gave up 27 points in the 4th quarter
alone. They were unable to get things back on track last week against Oklahoma
State and they went down 33-17, and fell to 0-2 on the year.
They have a young QB Blaine Gabbert who looks to have a very successful future,
but if this Missouri football team is going to get things going in the right
direction for the future they need to close out this year strongly, and a win
over Texas would assure that.
PRIMETIME MATCHUP
Texas was looking to make a statement against their rival Oklahoma to show the
country that they deserved to be in the BCS title game, but that didn’t happen.
If anything they showed that they are not invincible. Colt McCoy looked lost out
there. McCoy went 21/39 for 127 yards 1 TD and 1 INT, because the Oklahoma
defense gave him problems all day.
If Missouri is going to have any chance in this game their defense is going to
have to pressure McCoy. When McCoy has time to go through his reads we have seen
what this Texas offense can do. They are #1 in the country in scoring offense
putting up 42 points per game, and put up 445 yards of total offense per game.
Missouri is #3 in the Big 12 in pass defense which is going to be big. Their
secondary is going to have to play the game of their lives, because the front
seven is going to have to deal with getting pressure on McCoy and stopping the
Texas rushing attack for much of the game. If this secondary can get away with
playing man coverage without giving up too many yards or points Missouri will
keep this game close.
Missouri has the QB and offense to put up points, but it’s the defense that is
going to have to win it for them. If this game turns into a shootout there is no
way Missouri can keep up with the high powered Texas offense.
THE FINAL VERDICT
In a game that was supposed to be the one that Texas proved to the country they
were one of the best teams, they showed that they are still very vulnerable, and
the way to beat Texas is getting after QB Colt McCoy early and often. If the
Missouri defense can put pressure on McCoy and keep him from finding his rhythm
they have the fire power on the offensive side of the ball to pull the upset.
The only problem with committing to putting pressure on the QB is that it makes
the secondary more vulnerable. If Missouri can weather the storm through the air
and keep it from getting out of hand they will have a shot to pull the upset in
the 4th quarter, but that is a lot to ask of this defense.
In the end Texas just has too much fire power on offense, and after their close
game against Oklahoma the Longhorns are going to want to make a statement. We
think Missouri with QB Blaine Gabbert will be able to put up points early and
keep it within striking distance on the scoreboard, but Texas has shown that
they are a 2nd half team, and they will pull away late.
A year ago the margin was 25 points in favor of Texas. That was a much better Missouri team than this years version. Double digit losses to Oklahoma State and Nebraska would suggest more of the same this year, providing there's no post Oklahoma letdown. Texas -12.5
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