PFB Picks: Predicting Oklahoma State’s Week 8 Matchup Against Colorado

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The Cowboys are looking to rebound from their second loss of the season and looking to do so in the midst of America’s Greatest Homecoming.

Oklahoma State hosts Colorado at 6 p.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium, but before that game kicks off, let’s predict what we think will happen.

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 color and the pants color.

Caleb Hawkins over/under 85 rushing yards: Hawkins is averaging about 99 rushing yards a game, having ran for 83 and 68 yards in the Cowboys’ past two. Hawkins was a big piece to the Cowboys’ passing attack last week, but we’re only predicting his rush yards.

Second-Leading Tackler: If it was OSU’s leading tackler, we’d all pick Ethan Wesloski, so we’re predicting OSU’s second-leading tackler.

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 (OSU -13.5) and one to whichever one of us gets closest to the actual score.

Marshall Scott

Uniform: Black (Cursive) — Black — Orange

Caleb Hawkins over/under 85 rush yards: Under

The Buffaloes have a decent rushing defense, and I think the Cowboys are going to look to get Hawkins involved in the passing game earlier Saturday when they did last week. I think Hawkins gets close to that total on the ground and it’s supplemented by a good chunk of yardage through the air.

Second-Leading Tackler: Quinton Hammonds

Hammonds is the Cowboys’ third-leading tackler this season, so I’m going out on a bit of a limb, but he plays a ton of snaps and has 30 tackles across his past three games.

TD Parlay: Caleb Hawkins, Terrence Lewis, Justin Bowick

Hawkins got back in the end zone last week. We’ll see if that opens the floodgates. The Buffs like to play man coverage, so I went with Bowick and Lewis to beat that at some point and find paydirt.

Score: Oklahoma State 45, Colorado 28

Colorado has been playing teams tough, and maybe that happens for a bit on Saturday. But I don’t think the Buffs will be able to keep up with this OSU offense that is looking to bounce back from a tough loss.

Kyle Cox

Uniform: White (Brand) — Orange — White

Caleb Hawkins over/under 85 rush yards: Over

Second-Leading Tackler: Tate Romney

TD Parlay: Wyatt Young, Caleb Hawkins, Malik Charles

Score: Oklahoma State 42, Colorado 21

I want to talk myself into this being closer. The Buffs came this close to a huge upset last week over Utah, but it’s homecoming and the Cowboys have already shown how well they can show out for BPS after a loss.

Tyler Waldrep

Uniform: Orange (Brand) — Orange — Orange

Caleb Hawkins over/under 85 rush yards: Over

I expected this to be an easy pick, but Colorado has yet to allow a 100-yard rusher despite falling behind by quite a bit in some of these games. Still, the Cowboys have shown a tendency to lean on Hawkins quite a bit. This feels like a line that could go right down to the wire. I think Hawkins goes over in the fourth as OSU tries to bury the Buffs for good.

Second-Leading Tackler: Tate Romney

The lineacker has an eight-tackle lead on safety Quinton Hammonds. It would be surprising to see anyone else land there unless somebody knocks Wesloski down to No. 2 for a week. Romney is the boring pick here, but that doesn’t mean he’s not the right one.

TD Parlay: Justin Bowick, Wyatt Young, Terrence Lewis

If this doesn’t hit and others get it then I’m probably just going to be boring and pick Bowick and Young only each week. Colorado doesn’t really give up rushing touchdowns so that leaves me with the receivers. Lewis seems to get looks in the red zone. I considered picking the OSU defense and seeing if Marshall would let me get away with that like it was fantasy football (editor’s note: I would’ve allowed it).

Score: Oklahoma State 34, Colorado 17

The Buffs played Utah and Texas Tech close in its last two games, but the 24-point effort against the Utes was a season high number of points against an FBS team. With it being America’s Greatest Homecoming AND the week after a loss, I just think OSU will be motivated to put its foot down this week. Bad spot for a Colorado team close to a breakthrough, but instead I think the Buffs just break instead as a high-flying Cowboy offense takes an early lead allowing the OSU defense to play somewhat opportunistic football.

Scoreboard

Tyler made up some ground last week, scoring a dozen points to go from last to a tie for second, but Kyle broke into the lead with his seven-point week.

If you’re looking for Justin’s and Nathan’s picks, they can be found on The Reload.

These points don’t include this week’s uniforms.

1. Kyle Cox — 36
T2. Nathan Gilsleider — 33
T2. Tyler Waldrep — 33
4. Marshall Scott — 31
5. Justin Southwell — 25