I know...I know.... It’s going to seem awfully cliché to do, but I have to back the ‘over’ in this one for our college football picks. The truth of the matter is that the Bears aren’t stopping anything right now defensively, and as long as QB David Ash plays, there is no reason to think that Texas won’t at least drop 45 on the board. Remember that this Baylor defense just allowed 49 points to a TCU team that didn’t have a quarterback to work with. Last week, we did see QB Nick Florence and the Baylor offense struggle quite a bit. Even if you take out the 133-point outburst between Baylor and West Virginia, the Bears are still averaging a total of 78.3 points per game this year, while Texas is at 75.0 points per game. Expect this ‘total’ to continue to rise, and in the end, it will probably easily get into the high-80s or beyond.
The Texas Longhorns were thinking they were back on the college football roadmap but back to back losses have them looking to regain their footing. QB David Ash was injured last week against Oklahoma and he has completed 71.9 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions and if he is unable to go it will be Case McCoy who has completed 62.5 percent of his passes with three touchdowns in limited action. Joe Bergeron is averaging 4.1 yards per carry and he has nine touchdowns and Johnathan Gray is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Mike Davis leads the Texas receivers with 24 catches and three touchdowns, Jaxson Shipley has 23 catches and four touchdowns, and Marquise Goodwin has 15 catches and two touchdowns. The Longhorn’s defense allows 32.5 points per game, 209.2 rushing yards per game, and 240.5 passing yards per game with eight interceptions and 14 sacks. Steve Edmond has 45 tackles, Kenn Vaccaro has 43 tackles, and Adrian Phillips has 38 tackles. The Texas defense has allowed big numbers the past two weeks and are looking like a beaten bunch.
The Baylor Bears can light up the scoreboard but Art Briles team is having problems stopping their opponents from doing the same. Nick Florence has completed 63.6 percent of his passes with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Jarred Salubi is averaging 4.6 yards per carry with two touchdowns and Glasco Martin is averaging 3.7 yards per carry with five touchdowns. Terrance Williams leads the Baylor receivers with 37 catches and eight touchdowns, Lanear Sampson has 25 catches and three touchdowns, and Tevin Reese has 23 catches and four touchdowns. Defensively Baylor allows 41.6 points per game, 186.4 rushing yards, and 372.4 passing yards with six interceptions and eight sacks. Bryce Hager has 61 tackles, Ahamad Dixon has 48 tackles, and Eddie Lackey has 42 tackles. There weren’t high expectations for Baylor this year but the Bears have proved to be a lot of fun to watch.
Look for points to be plentiful as we have a lot of offense and not much defense and this one should sail over the total.
Pick: OVER 80 points