College football bowl picks: Big 12 predictions
By Brian Spaen
Iowa State was nowhere near getting into a bowl this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t cheer on the rest of the Big 12 conference. Here are our college football bowl picks for the conference that starts playing on Monday.
Click here for a full schedule of Big 12 bowl games.
West Virginia 34, Texas A&M 28
Clint Trickett’s career unfortunately comes to an end after suffering a concussion. Skyler Howard has done a decent job stepping in as a backup nearly beating Kansas State and defeating Iowa State. He’s thrown five touchdowns to zero interceptions. Neither team has that great of a defense, but the Mountaineers will edge out a very average Aggie squad with their running attack.
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Oklahoma 42, Clemson 21
As long as Trevor Knight is healthy, his arm and Samaje Perine’s running ability should be enough to overpower the Tigers defense. Clemson’s D is good on paper, but benefited from a pretty bland conference.
Texas 21, Arkansas 17
How in the world did Arkansas get into a bowl game? It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen Texas on the field, and the regular season ended in misery against TCU. Despite Arkansas just winning twice in SEC action, they will be a very tough outing with their solid running attack. If Texas has to rely on Tyrone Swoopes’ arm, they’ll lose, but they’ll pull out a low-scoring affair.
Ole Miss 27, TCU 24
The hardest thing to gauge in bowl games is the level of care teams will have if they were snubbed from a national title. As long as the Horned Frogs come out with the mentality that they want to prove to the nation they got screwed, their offense will be way too much for the Rebels to handle. But Ole Miss is better than their 30-0 gaffe against the Razorbacks late in the season and their defense will make the plays to win.
Dec 6, 2014; Waco, TX, USA; Baylor Bears head coach Art Briles watches his team take on the Kansas State Wildcats during the second quarter at McLane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Baylor 52, Michigan State 38
Unlike TCU, Art Briles will keep his team fired up to play in their bowl game. It’s close to home and don’t expect another huge letdown on defense like they had against Central Florida last season. It will be a high-scoring affair that sees the Bears taking advantage of Sparty letting their opponents score 95 percent of the time in the red zone.
Kansas State 30, UCLA 27
This is a sneaky good matchup with two great quarterbacks — Brett Hundley and Jake Waters. The Bruins have more of a balanced offensive attack while the Wildcats will largely rely on Waters’ arm and running ability. UCLA struggles at defending the pass (89th nationally), which makes me give K-State the edge in a fun game.
Washington 42, Oklahoma State 10
It was a great moment for the Cowboys to defeat their rivals, but they were awarded a bowl game they didn’t deserve with how badly they played during their losing streak. Now without Tyreek Hill, expect the Huskies to make this noncompetitive sometime in the third quarter.
Big 12 bowl record: 5-2