It’s a non-conference match-up between a ranked Power Five program and a mid-major program. The (10) Oklahoma State Cowboys travel east to square-off against the Southern Alabama Jaguars on Friday night at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Alabama.
The game is scheduled to begin on Friday, September 8th at 8:00 p.m. EST and can be viewed on the ESPN2 Network. As of this article, odds gurus have placed the Jaguars as 28 point underdogs and the contest’s over/under at 66.5.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys opened their season with a 59-24 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Thursday night. The South Alabama Jaguars were trumped 47-27 on the road by Ole Miss Saturday. This game will also mark the first time that the two schools have met on the gridiron in their respective histories.
(10) Oklahoma State Cowboys (1-0)
The Cowboys could not be slowed down offensively, as they cruised to a season opening victory over Tulsa on Thursday. Oklahoma State jumped out to a 21-0 lead after the opening quarter and never looked back. All totaled, the Cowboys State racked-up 640 yards of offense in the game. They also scored four offensive touchdowns from at least 40 yards out.
Heisman hopeful Mason Rudolph was as advertised, completing 20 of 24 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns. He continually gashed the Golden Hurricanes for large chunks of yardage down the field. The shifty quarterback also scampered for another score. The South Alabama defense will have their hands full, considering they surrendered over 400 yards passing against Ole Miss on Saturday.
Running back Justice Hill also did his part to keep the Cowboys balanced. The starting tail back ran for 132 yards on just 15 carries and found the back of the end zone once. More importantly, he kept the Tulsa defense honest, keeping them from sending multiple players into the secondary to cover the passing attack. Back field mate La’Darren Brown contributed nicely, dashing for another 92 yards and a score.
Just like Mason Rudolph, wide receiver James Washington lived up to the hype. The talented wide out led the Cowboys with six catches for 145 yards and two end zone strikes.
Four other receivers combined for another 10 grabs for 140 yards and a touchdown. South Alabama must defend the deep ball because the Cowboys hit three times from at least 40 yards out.
Defensively, Oklahoma State surrendered 24 points and 432 yards in the game. Tre Flowers led the Cowboys with eight tackles and Jarrell Owens had two pass deflections. Kenneth Edison-McGruder was a beast, recording one sack and also taking a fumble recovery 85 yards to pay-dirt. Also, look for the Cowboys special teams to try to capitalize on the Jaguars. South Alabama gave up a kick return for a touchdown against the Rebels.
South Alabama (0-1)
The Jaguars hung in for a half against Ole Miss on the road but they couldn’t keep their momentum going after intermission. South Alabama was within striking distance (13-10) at the half but were outscored 27-3 in the third quarter. Overall, South Alabama was out-gained 531-374 in the contest. To their credit, they did hold a 25-23 first down edge over the Rebels at game’s end.
Jaguars quarterback Cole Garvin peformed pretty well in the loss. The starting signal-caller completed 19 of 31 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown. He also added 18 more yards plus two scores on the ground. More importantly, he managed to not throw an interception throughout all four quarters of football.
Running back Tra Minter was good when he got the chance to touch the football. Unfortunately, the third quarter debacle limited his carries going forward. Altogether, minter charged forward for 83 yards on just 12 carries. As mentioned above, Cole Garvin received the glory in the red zone.
Cole Garvin did what he could to spread the ball around effectively against Mississippi. They just couldn’t muster enough of a deep threat to keep the Rebel’s secondary honest. In all, five receivers caught 13 passes for almost 180 yards and a touchdown. The Jaguars will have to find a way create a deep threat to stop the Cowboys from repaeting the Rebels game plan.
The Jaguars have to tighten up defensively if they hope to hang in this contest as Oklahoma State is an offensive powerhouse. Their 531 total yards of offense could expand exponentially with Mason Rudolph and James Washington going deep.
After the game against Ole Miss, South Alabama is allowing 47 points and 531 yards per game. Jeremy Reaves leads the South Alabama Jaguars with eight tackles, Finessé Middleton had one sack and Tobias Moss had one pass deflection.
Prediction
Weird things tend to be the norm on Thursday nights, and South Alabama is a team that hasn’t been blown out much dating back to last season. Heck, the Jaguars were able to hold their own against Ole Miss in the season opener for three of the four quarters anyways.
This contest will be quite the challenge for the South Alabama defense. Furthermore they were unable to slow Ole Miss in their opener. With all the unknowns surrounding the Rebels heading into that game, it doesn’t bode well for the Jaguars here.
Mason Rudolph was firing on all cylinders and the Cowboys beat down the Golden Hurricane. With all the big plays that Oklahoma state is capable of, it’s hard to imagine the Jaguars hanging with the Cowboys for a full game. That being said, history says that they are good enough to stick within the 28 points.
Las Vegas says that the Cowboys are 28 points better and that may be but I hate picking against the home dog on Thursday night. Look, for Oklahoma State to cover the spread means they will score plenty of points. I couldn’t agree more.
I also think that the Jaguars will find ways to get some on the board themselves. That should be just what the doctor ordered in an over play. The 66 points is not enough with the Cowboys potent offense and a determined home team. Play the over and watch the offenses find ways to pay you your money.
Trends
The Cowboys are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games.
The Cowboys are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
The Over is 6-0 in the Cowboys last 6 vs. Sun Belt Conference.
The Under is 5-2 in the Cowboys last 7 road games.
The Jaguars are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 non-conference games.
The Jaguars are 5-14 ATS in their last 19 home games.
The Over is 9-2 in the Jaguars last 11 non-conference games.
The Over is 4-1 in the Jaguars last 5 games overall.
Join the Rainmaker and myself for our fourth addition of our College Football Throwdown podcast. We are going to review all the results from the previous Saturday’s action, including all the dogs that covered and the out right upsets. We also will be debuting our new session of “Who’s the dummy”, where we will discuss some of the ridiculous coaching decisions and player performances.
