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NCAA Football

Kansas State vs. Texas Gambling Predictions & Week 4 Preview

KSU vs Texas NCAA Football Spread/Handicapping

A surging Kansas State Wildcats will look to upend their hosts on Saturday, as they arrive in Austin to face a Texas Longhorns side that has dropped two straight.

Kansas State (2-1) vs. Texas (1-2)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013
Time: 8 p.m. EST
Venue: Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium
City: Austin
O/U Odds: 58
Spread: Texas -5 1/2 

Things are starting to appear bleak in Austin as the Longhorns allowed Ole Miss to score 30 unanswered points, to overcome a half-time deficit for a 44-23 romp last Saturday.

Kansas State, meanwhile, cruised to 37-7 victory over UMass Saturday night and continue to improve every week after their season-opening loss to North Dakota State.

That’s mainly due to an increasingly explosive offense that received a 118-yard performance from senior running back John Hubert in its win over Massachusetts. The Wildcats posted 456 total yards of offense against UMass, 329 coming on the ground.

Junior quarterback Jake Waters also pitched in, finishing 5-of-10 for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

On the defensive side, K-State surrendered 309 total yards, 186 passing and 123 rushing, and held UMass to 7-of-17 third down conversions.

That will come in handy against t talented Texas offense that has a ton of returnes and is loaded with talent. Its my guess that the team will eventually snap out of its funk, and maybe it will be this weekend.  [soliloquy id=”82219″]

However, a thin defense is another concern. The one that gave up nearly 700 total yards to BYU and 449 total yards to Ole Miss, and ranks No. 53, surrendering 33.3 PPG.

The Wildcats defense ranks No. 39 at 19.3 PPG.

K-State has won five in a row against Texas, including a 42-24 victory in December that clinched the conference title. Nevertheless, the Horns are 13-2 in Big 12 openers under coach Mack Brown, with the two losses coming to Kansas State on the road  in 1998 and at home in 2007.

Matt’s Prediction

This is my upset pick of the week.

The line for this matchup opened at -7 for Texas and that’s a bit of a shocker, especially as it tightened to -5 1/2.

K-State appears to be getting better every week, particularly at the skill positions. In the meantime, the Longhorns will be without two offensive starters – receiver Daje Johnson and tight end Greg Daniels, as well as a long list of key players who are questionable for Saturday.

The only plus the Longhorns will have here is the home crowd advantage, but I don’t see that being enough to carry them to victory in this one.

Kansas State  41, Texas 38

By Matt Martz

Matt has returned to CappersPicks.com. The pull was too great. He missed providing his free picks and insider sports gambling analysis to his loyal readers. Please take it easy on him till he gets back into his groove. Cheers!