Week 11 College Football Picks: Baylor, Oklahoma State, Houston to Cover Spread

Time is running out for college football’s undefeated teams that are not among the four best in the country according to the College Football Playoff rankings.

The sixth-ranked Baylor Bears (8-0) and eighth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-0) also have the disadvantage of playing in the Big 12, which was shut out of the national semifinals last year despite having two worthy teams in Baylor and the TCU Horned Frogs.

The Bears host the 12th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (8-1) on Saturday in what is their biggest opportunity for a statement game to date. With a victory and cover as 2.5-point home favorites at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark, Baylor has a good chance to jump up in the rankings and gets to face Oklahoma State next week for a shot to move even higher.

True freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham was outstanding for the Bears in last week’s 31-24 road win against the Kansas State Wildcats with 419 yards and three touchdowns. He will now start his first game in Waco, and Baylor is 14-6 against the spread in its last 20 there. The Bears will cover again versus Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys cannot afford to slip up, either, with a home game against Baylor on deck. Oklahoma State is a 14-point road favorite against the Iowa State Cyclones (3-6), and the favorite is 9-1 straight up and ATS in the past 10 meetings, according to the Odds Shark College Football Database.

Look for the Cowboys to take care of business like they did last week, when they beat TCU 49-29, and blow out the Cyclones by more than two touchdowns.

Finally, the 24th-ranked Houston Cougars (9-0) may not have much of a shot at making the CFP field out of the American Athletic Conference, but they will host their toughest opponent yet in the 21st-ranked Memphis Tigers (8-1) as seven-point chalk.

The Cougars are 4-0 ATS in the past four meetings with the Tigers and 6-2 versus the line in their last eight games overall. Houston will step up and step over Memphis with an impressive double-digit victory that will put the team into the Top 20.