Daily Bullets (Jan. 24): OSU’s Longshot Odds on the Big 12 Title, Price Drop on Some Tickets

Sign me up for Boone’s take here on trying something like Underwood did.

Bullets Rundown

• OSUs longshot odds on the Big 12 title
• Prices went down on (some) football tickets
• Big jump of Cowboy defense

OSU Bullets

• This was a bit surprising – here are the current odds you can get on who will win the Big 12 in football in 2020: 

BetOnline didn’t release conference-championship odds. But SportsBettingDime has the Big 12 odds this way:

1. Oklahoma 9/5 (sounds about right)

2. Texas 5/1 (seems a little optimistic)

3. Iowa State 6/1 (the Cyclones have established expectations)

4. Baylor 7/1 (unknown; lots of new players and a new coaching staff)

5. Oklahoma State 8/1 (seems a little pessimistic) [NewsOK]

I’d be willing to bet the shirt on my back that OSU gets there before Iowa State does. It’s a bit surprising that OSU’s odds are almost twice that as Texas – sign me up for that action!

• For some – the price of football tickets will drop this year (more details here). For others, the required donation rose (myself included). But the calculated gamble I’m interested in still is moving the band. 

Also, sections 215, 216 and 217 in the west end zone are now available to the public. That is the result of a change made to relocate the band to the northwest corner of the stadium in the student section. [NewsOK]

See an online map of the stadium with prices here – but it’s a smart play. You take those band seats and put them into the inventory of regular seats (not just general admission) and have the band plug up the “leaving early” spots and you make more money.

The only risk is that those end zone seats don’t sell (bring back the “family fun zone” package!) and you see big gaps behind the net on field goal attempts.

• How much OSU’s defense jumped statistically in 2019 was startling:

That’s a lot of experience returning from an improved squad.

“I felt like that coach Knowles conformed our defense to fit the style of play in this league,” Mike Gundy said Tuesday, referencing third-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. “I thought we played better defensively.”

At least one number bears that out. OSU rated 37th in FBS defensive efficiency last season, compared to 80th in 2018. [TulsaWorld]

Cutting a number in half is a serious (and welcome) improvement.

• Cade Cunningham was named a McDonald’s All-American and two receivers are hitting the transfer portal

• This stadium being done will draw me to Stillwater at least once this spring.

Anybody else excited for March 20?!?! #ComingSoon #GoPokes #okstate pic.twitter.com/MNnJKF87Kx

— Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) January 23, 2020

Non-OSU Bullets

• Enjoyed this profile on “Free Solo” climber Alex Honnold
• Pretty deep thoughts in “a world without pain”
• Appreciated these faith-based thoughts on parenting