Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Favorites to Win Big 12 Title

Expectations for Oklahoma State in the upcoming football season have only been this high a handful of times in the history of the program. In fact, maybe just once. That was the 2011 season—when Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon delivered a first-ever Big 12 title to Stillwater.

According to the latest odds from Covers.com, OSU isn’t quite the favorite to bring home another conference title. But at 14/5 odds, it isn’t far off from it, trailing the Sooners ever so slightly. Bob Stoops’ team opened with 5/7 odds and are favored for a three-peat. Here’s a look at the odds where Texas (who hasn’t had a winning record since 2013) has an incredible 3/1 odds behind the Pokes.

That is … a lot of faith in the Longhorns. Yes, Tom Herman is widely considered an upgrade from Charlie Strong at the helm of the program. Heck, he’s already shown what he can do the Sooners against a lesser talented roster at Houston. But Colt McCoy was the last quarterback who could complete passes with any type of consistency in Austin, and Shane Buechele doesn’t seem to be the savior everyone pegged him to be. Going from 5-7 to Big 12 champion is a reach.

Will OU and OSU finish Nos. 1 and 2 this season? In both the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the Sooners finished at the top of the conference by holding off OSU in the final bout of the season. So if recent history tells us anything, it’s that these odds, at least at this point, seem to be fair. This season, however, will end in an official Big 12 championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. If the Pokes do reach that point, perhaps playing in the home stadium of the Dallas Cowboys will deliver championship results.