Oklahoma State football vs. Arkansas: TV channel, betting line, scouting report for Week 2
Scott WrightThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — After opening the season against a team it had never played, Oklahoma State will renew a long-lost rivalry with a neighbor from the east.
The 18th-ranked Cowboys face Arkansas for the first time since 1980, with the Razorbacks making their first trip to Boone Pickens Stadium since 1978.
Arkansas leads the all-time series 30-15-1, with wins in the last five meetings and 22 of 27 dating back to 1951.
But this is a different era.
The Cowboys have established themselves as a consistent winning program, while Arkansas has been struggling to maintain relevance in the Southeastern Conference.
Arkansas has reached nine wins just four times in the last 20 years and has been under .500 in half of those seasons. Sam Pittman is the Hogs’ sixth coach since Mike Gundy took over at OSU in 2005.
In its 44-20 win over FCS No. 1 South Dakota State, OSU looked like the team it was expected to be, with a balanced offense and an improving defense.
Here’s a look at what you need to know about the game:
Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas
- When: 11 a.m. Saturday
- Where: Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater
- TV: ABC (KOCO-5)
- Streaming: Watch ESPN (here's how to stream it live)
- Radio: KXXY-FM 96.1
- Line: Cowboys by 9
- Over/under: 59.5
Scouting Arkansas
- Record: 1-0
- Best player: Landon Jackson. The 6-foot-7, 280-pound defensive end is a fringe first-round prospect in next year’s NFL Draft. He’s from the same Pleasant Grove High School in Texarkana, Texas, that produced OSU linebacker Nick Martin and former Cowboy Xavier Benson. Jackson has a massive body, but the agility to play on the edge, where he had 13.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks last year. His best game came against Alabama, when he had 11 tackles and 3.5 sacks on his way to earning All-SEC first team honors.
- The case for Arkansas: The Razorbacks should be feeling some confidence coming off a 70-0 season-opening win, even if it was against a middle-tier FCS opponent in Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Arkansas defense is strongest up front, with Jackson anchoring the line, plus some speedy linebackers in the middle. On top of that, OSU’s run blocking was lackluster in the season opener. Limiting the explosiveness of Ollie Gordon II is a good first step toward pulling off an upset.
- The case for OSU: The Cowboys handled business against the best team at the FCS level, and while Arkansas will have SEC-level athleticism, OSU should still have an overall talent edge. In particular, quarterback Alan Bowman had one of his most efficient performances as a Cowboy, and replicating that will limit the impact of Arkansas’ defensive front.
