Big 12 Conference: Week 7 Predictions

Week 7 in the Big 12 conference features three games that could have title implications.

The Baylor Bears will travel to Texas A&M in a game that looks to be high scoring. Both teams have one loss in the conference, and the loser with be out of the Big 12 conference title hunt.

Oklahoma State will look to stay undefeated against Texas. The Longhorns got embarrassed last week against Oklahoma, but will get another chance this week to prove they are back.

Another big game is Kansas State at Texas Tech. The Wildcats are off to a surprising 5-0 start, and would love to remain unbeaten until their matchup against Oklahoma in a couple weeks.

No. 20 Baylor @ No. 21 Texas A&M (-9): 11:00am (FX)

Both Texas A&M and Baylor got wins last week, and still have an outside shot at a conference title. The loser of this game would pretty much be eliminated, though.

Baylor has one of the most explosive offenses in football. They rank No. 3 in college football in yards per game. Quarterback Robert Griffin is still completing over 80 percent of his passes, and has 19 touchdowns and only one interception.

Baylor receiver Kendall Wright is also having a big a year. He is averaging 138 yards per game with eight touchdowns. There's no doubt that Griffin and Wright will have big games on Saturday. Texas A&M's pass defense ranks No. 120 in college football giving up 347 yards per game.

Texas A&M finally put a complete game together, and got a tough road win at Texas Tech. The Aggies offense is still rolling on the ground, averaging 220 rushing yards per game, but they have to fix their pass defense if they want to compete in this conference.

I give Texas A&M the slight edge only because they are playing at home. I expect this game to be high scoring and very competitive. Baylor is 4-1 against the spread this year, and Texas A&M is 1-4 so I'd take Baylor ATS, but I think A&M wins a close one straight up.

Prediction: Texas A&M 38-34

Iowa State @ Missouri (-14.5): 1:00pm

Both of these teams have struggled in their last two games. After starting 3-0, Iowa State has now dropped to 3-2, and Missouri is off to a 2-3 start.

Iowa State quarterback Steele Jantz has shown moments of potential, but for the most part he's been very mediocre. Jantz is only completing 55 percent of his passes and has thrown eight interceptions. If the Cyclones are going to compete in this one, he needs to have a big game against a weak Missouri pass defense.

Missouri is desperate for a win, and I think they will come out determined on Saturday. Iowa State struggles against the run giving up 202 rushing yards a game. If Missouri is smart, they will give the ball to the Big 12's leading rusher, Henry Josey, early and often.

Prediction: Missouri 34-17

No. 6 Oklahoma State (-7.5) @ No. 22 Texas: 2:30pm (ABC)

These two teams are coming off of complete opposite performances. Oklahoma State looked unstoppable last week against Kansas scoring 70 points, and Texas got dominated by Oklahoma.

The Cowboys are clearly one of the best two teams in this conference. The Cowboys offense ranks No. 1 in the country averaging 51 points per game. Brandon Weeden is completing 75 percent of his passes and has 15 touchdowns.

I think Texas is better then what they looked against Oklahoma, but I'm still not sure how good they are. Quarterbacks David Ash and Case McCoy have been decent, but are not putting up great numbers. Also, the Texas running game is only ranked 45th in the country so they are still searching for an identity on offense.

Defensively, I think they are fairly good, but once again not great. Their defense ranks 24th in the country, and will face a big test this week against Weeden and Blackmon.

Oklahoma State has struggled against Texas going 1-9 against them in their last 10 meetings, but last year they finally broke through with a win, and I think they are still the much more superior team.

Prediction: Oklahoma State 38-31

No. 17 Kansas State @ Texas Tech (-3): 6:00pm (FSN)

Ok, I'm tired of picking against Bill Snyder and Kansas State. Three weeks in a row now I thought they'd lose, and three weeks in a row they have pulled off upsets. Vegas still doesn't believe as they put Texas Tech as three-point favorites, but I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

Somehow, Kansas State just keeps finding ways to win games. They have no passing game at all, but it doesn't seem to bother them. Snyder loves running it 70 percent of the time, and keeping the other team's offense off the field.

Texas Tech has the No. 7 ranked offense in the country, but suffered a big loss this week by losing running back Eric Stephens for the season due to an injury. Stephens was averaging 114 yards per game with eight touchdowns so he will be a big loss for Tech.

Kansas State did give up big plays to Baylor through the passing game so I expect Texas Tech to do the same. Tech has won five straight games against Kansas State, and beat the Wildcats 66-14 last time they played, but this is not the same Kansas State team.

I honestly have no clue who to pick in this game. My gut tells me take Tech in a close game, but I'm not sure I feel like picking against the Wildcats again. They keep proving me wrong so I guess I'll take K-State this week. Of course that means they will probably lose so bet accordingly.

Prediction: Kansas State 31-28

No. 3 Oklahoma (-36) @ Kansas: 8:15 (ESPN 2)

I'm going to keep this game pretty short for obvious reasons; it's going to be a blow out.

Kansas has the worst defense in the country giving up 49 points per game, and hasen't given up fewer then 42 points in their last four games. Their offense has looked pretty good at times and ranks No. 18 in the country in rush offense, but they haven't faced a defense like Oklahoma's.

Oklahoma rolled by Texas last week, and will have an even easier game this week. Landry Jones should be able to keep improving his stats and Heisman hopes. Oklahoma will win easy, the only question that remains is how many points will they score?

I think Oklahoma could score 70 or more in this one, but I expect Stoops and the Sooners to back off early if this game gets out of hand so I'm going conservative score-wise.

Prediction: Oklahoma 52-17