PFB Picks: Predicting Oklahoma State’s Week 7 Matchup Against Houston

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This Cowboy season has already had more meaningful games in it than the past two put together, and the Cowboys’ biggest game to this point comes Saturday.

No. 18 Oklahoma State travels to No. 20 Houston for a game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday from TDECU Stadium. Here is how we see the game going.

What We’re Predicting

Uniforms: These are already out, but we made our predictions before they dropped. You get a point for the helmet color, the decal, the jersey number color and the pants color.

Drew Mestemaker over/under 300 passing yards: Mestemaker has eclipsed 300 passing yards in the Cowboys’ past four games. Can that streak continue?

Sack-getter: Name a player who gets a sack, get two points.

TD Parlay: You can name as many players who you think will score a touchdown (passing TDs don’t count), and you get two points for each player you name. However if you name a guy who doesn’t score a touchdown, you get no points in this section.

Score: Three points are up for grabs here: one for guessing the correct winner, one for being on the right side of the spread (Houston -4.5) and one to whichever one of us gets closest to the actual score.

Marshall Scott

Uniform: Orange (Patriot Pete)-White (Orange)-Orange

Drew Mestemaker over/under 300 passing yards: Over

Mestemaker has thrown for at least 300 yards in the Cowboys’ past four games. That streak will probably end at some point, but Houston has a stout run defense and a pass defense that ranks 13th in the league. So, I think Mestemaker’s streak stays in tact through this trip to Houston.

Sack: Malik Charles

Disciplined rush lanes will be important against a quarterback who is a capable runner. I can’t get that play out of my head from Morgantown when Malik Charles essentially put the Mountaineers’ left tackle in Michael Hawkins’ lap. So, I’ll go with Charles.

TD Parlay: Caleb Hawkins, Justin Bowick, Chris Barnes

On The Reload podcast, we labeled Caleb Hawkins a free space because he scored 29 touchdowns as a true freshman last season. Well, he’s scored only two through five games as a Cowboy, but I’m sticking with free space because I know as soon as I jump off the bandwagon, he’ll score five in a game.

My sneaky pick is Chris Barnes, and that’s just me going with my gut.

Score: Oklahoma State 41, Houston 31

In the preseason, I picked this game as a loss for the Cowboys. That is obviously still in play, but it’s just been hard of late to imagine many teams being able to keep up with the Cowboys’ offensive attack. It feels like if OSU’s defense can hold a team to 30 points, the Cowboys have a good shot of winning.

Kyle Cox

Uniform: White (Brand)-White (Orange)-White

Drew Mestemaker over/under 300 passing yards: Over

Sack: Ethan Wesloski

TD Parlay: Wyatt Young, Terrence Lewis, Justin Bowick

Score: Oklahoma State 42, Houston 40

I think this will harken back to Cardiac Cowboys games of old. Feels like Houston owns an early lead, but the Pokes put on the second-half pants like they have all season and take it back in the fourth quarter.

Tyler Waldrep

Uniform: White (Brand)-White (Orange)-Orange (nailed it)

Drew Mestemaker over/under 300 passing yards: Over

Houston’s pass defense ranks 117th this season, allowing 248 yards per game, but they did hold Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson to 182 last week so there have been real signs of life.

Sack: Jaleel Johnson

Johnson leads all defenders in total pressures by six, despite only playing 11 more snaps than the No. 2 edge defender James Williams.

TD Parlay: Justin Bowick, Wyatt Young

Going somewhat conservative to try and hit one of these for once.

If I picked a third guy it would probably be Terrence Lewis, but I really need the points, plus I’m even more confident that Bowick finds the end zone twice than I am that any non-Young receiver finds the end zone at all.

Score: Oklahoma State 34, Houston 24

I wouldn’t be shocked if Houston has the lead at the half as Oklahoma State has often been a slow-starter this season. I think Drew Mestemaker is the difference-maker in this one and Oklahoma State’s defense comes up with enough plays to swing the momentum in his favor late.

Scoreboard

Nobody went perfect like Nathan Gilsleider did the week before, but Kyle Cox made a strong push to pull within a point of the leader. Nathan’s and Justin Southwell’s picks were made in The Reload.

Here’s an update of the scoreboard to this point (this doesn’t include points for this week’s uniforms yet):

1. Nathan Gilsleider — 30
2. Kyle Cox — 29
3. Marshall Scott — 25
4. Justin Southwell — 22
5. Tyler Waldrep — 21