Pittsburgh Panthers
(2-0 SU 0-2 ATS)
vs.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
(1-1 SU 1-1 ATS)
TV: ESPN
By Jason Green
9/17/16
In their last Game Oklahoma State was robbed by the officials making a mistake to give Central Michigan another play, which they used to Scoreand get the HUGE upset. Still, a ranked OSU team giving Central Michigan a chance? The Cowboys only rushed for 58 yards in the Game and allowed CMU to Score30 points.
Oklahoma State had high hopes for the season, which can still be salvaged even after the big loss last week, but they cannot suffer another non-Conference loss before tough Big 12 play begins.
Pittsburgh is off to a solid 2-0 start and they beat Penn State last week. However, they have failed to cover the spread in either of their Games and they gave up 39 points in the win over Penn State.
OSU failed to cover last week at home facing Central Michigan where they were a big 17.5-point favorite.
One key in this Game, as usual, will be the play on 3rd down. With the Cowboys failing to run the ball in the loss to Central Michigan they were in many 3rd and long situations. They have to avoid that in this Game, as the Pitt defense has only surrendered 6 of their 26 3rd downs.
The Pitt offense is a good one, but not a great one even though they put up 42 points in their last Game. QB Nathan Peterman has passed for 266 yards with 5 TD and 1 INT and while the WR corps is decent no player has over 85 receiving yards. James Conner leads the RB unit that is deep and has several players that will get touches in this big non-Conference match up. In the win over Penn State the Panthers rushed for 341 yards.
The Cowboys’ defense stuffed the run in the loss to Central Michigan, but they gave up 361 passing yards. They have to play better pass D in this Game and they will get tested in the secondary, especially if the strong front line can keep Pitt from moving the chains on the ground.
Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph went for 286 yards with 2 TD and 1 INT in the loss to Central Michigan and the WR corps is solid with 3 players with at least 95 receiving yards. However, can the Cowboys run the ball and keep Pitt’s defense honest? They could not do so in the last Game and their top 2 rushers are Justice Hill (61 yards) and Chris Carson (45 yards). OSU has to, at least, try to establish to run, as if they do not the Panthers will load up the secondary to defend the pass.
Pitt is solid against the run, but in the loss to Penn State they gave up 322 passing yards.
Another key in this Game for the Cowboys is their play on special teams. They will be facing a Pitt team that is averaging 43 yards per kickoff return and Quadree Henderson already has returned one for a TD.
While Pitt has covered the spread in 6 of their last 8 road Games they have failed to cover in their last 4 non-Conference Games.
OSU is only 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Games and they are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 Games facing a team that has a winning record.
Jason’s Pick: After their last loss OSU is an angry team that will take their frustrations out on Pitt and they will win and cover the 6-point spread. Oklahoma State -6