Vegas Drops Cowboys’ Title Odds to 80-1

Well, Cowboy fans, it looks like OSU won’t be headed to the national championship this year.

That is, according to Vegas.

After a mid-summer update, OSU’s title odds have gotten worse, according to the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

After initially giving OSU 40/1 odds in January, the SuperBook has changed to 80/1, although there have been no major reasons to why they would do so.

The Cowboys share odds with Houston, which moved from 100/1.

Here’s a table of the odds of the eight Big 12 teams on the list:

OU is understandable. The Sooners return a lot of talent from last year and are fresh off of a CFB Playoff Final Four campaign. After that, things become a little less clear.

Baylor, which just fired its head coach and is going through a university-wide scandal, has already had multiple recruits de-commit and many who have either transferred or want to transfer. The school, and the football team especially, is in a state of disarray, and while their odds did drop from 12/1, some could argue that the drop should have been larger.

TCU, while talented, loses their star quarterback Trevone Boykin. The Horned Frogs are still riding the momentum from their 3 OT win over the Oregon Ducks in the Alamo Bowl, led by then-senior quarterback Bram Kohlhausen. Their odds dropped from 30/1 to 50/1, yet still have better odds than the majority of Big 12 schools, including OSU.

Texas is three years removed from a winning season, yet they find themselves with odds just slightly worse than those of OSU. West Virginia, Kansas State and Texas Tech all find themselves out of Vegas relevance, while Kansas and Iowa State were, to no one’s surprise, not included.

So why did the Cowboys drop? OSU returns 19 starters and has a solid recruiting class on its way. Mason Rudolph returns for his second season as a full-time starter, and he will have plenty of offensive weapons at the receiver, running back and cowboy back positions.

The defense is more of an unknown, with leaders like Emmanuel Ogbah, Kevin Peterson and Seth Jacobs all gone. Still, with leaders like Ashton Lamkpin, Jordan Sterns and Chad Whitener, and young talent all over the depth chart, the defensive unit could be better than expected in 2016. Special teams will be in good hands as well, with Ben Grogan and Zach Sinor returning, as well as playmakers on punt and kick return (we’re looking at you, Barry J.).

Maybe OSU has lost national relevance because of how they closed last season. Maybe it’s because they have just been forgotten about. The Cowboys, though, have often excelled when expectations were low.

The Cowboys started last season unranked and rose as high as No. 6 in 2015. They’ve proven people wrong before and there is no reason they can’t do it again.

OSU opens its season on Sept. 3 against Southeastern Louisiana at Boone Pickens Stadium.