Losing to rival Oklahoma last December 3, 38-20, was both costly and bitter for the Cowboys, who missed the chance of being crowned the winner of the Big 12 conference. A sprinkle of sweetness to their otherwise solid campaign, however, could come this Thursday, as the Cowboys look to take home its 10th win of the season when they do battle with Colorado.
Quarterback Mason Rudolph has had a fantastic regular season despite the sorry loss to the Cowboys and he’ll try to throw darts effectively again versus Colorado. Rudolph has 3,777 passing yards and 25 touchdowns against just four interceptions on the year. Of course, he racked up those numbers largely thanks to a group of talented receivers that boasts of four players with at least 478 receiving yards. Among them is the pair of James Washington and Jalen McCleskey, who has 1,209 and 762 receiving yards, respectively, this season, while combining for 16 touchdown catches.
Considering the toughness of Colorado’s defense that ranks 13th in the nation against the pass, the Cowboys will also look to involve their backfield more to keep the Buffs ‘D guessing. Running back Justice Hill, who rushed for 99 yards on 16 carries in the Oklahoma game, leads the team in team in rushing yards (1,042) to go with five rushing touchdowns.
Oklahoma State is 4-2 ATS in its last six games overall.
It doesn’t take a Colorado rocket engineering graduate to figure out that bottling up Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph is going to be a major key to victory this Thursday.
Crippling opposing passing offenses isn’t new to Colorado, as the Buffaloes are 13th in the nation against the pass, allowing just 182.5 passing yards per game. Rudolph isn’t being protected by an elite offensive line, as evidenced by the fact that Oklahoma State has allowed 31 sacks on the season—third most in the Big 12. Conversely, Colorado’s pass rush has generated 37 sacks this year, which is second in the Pac-12. Expect the likes of Jimmie Gilbert and Jordan Carrell to keep on disturbing Rudolph’s peace in the pocket. Gilbert is third in the conference with 9.5 sacks, while Carrell has five.
On offense, there’ll be a good mix of aerial and ground attack for the Buffs, who parades a dual-threat quarterback in Sefo Liufau. Liufau has passed for 2,171 yards and 11 touchdowns with six interceptions. He also has 496 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
