The 2021 college football regular season comes to an end this weekend with all of the conference championship games and one regular-season makeup between USC and California. We will preview the title game from Conference USA, the Pac-12 and Mountain West later this week. Here’s a quick look at two others with NCAAF college football parlay picks.
#8 Baylor vs. #7 Oklahoma State (-5.5)
The Big 12 title game from Dallas at noon ET on Saturday. The winner has a shot at reaching the College Football Playoff, especially if it’s Oklahoma State, but would need some help elsewhere. The Cowboys are the home team as they went 8-1 in conference play and the Bears are the away team with a 7-2 conference record.
Baylor earned a spot in this game with a 27-24 win over Texas Tech on Saturday. The Red Raiders got in position at the end for a 53-yard field goal attempt by Jonathan Garibay, who had plenty of leg but pushed the kick wide left on the final play. Garibay, who was 13 of 13 on field goals before then, had a game-ending 62-yarder to beat Iowa State a couple of weeks prior.
Making his first collegiate start, Baylor redshirt freshman quarterback Blake Shapen threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns and had zero turnovers thanks to a critical replay review late in the third quarter that overturned an interception by Tech cornerback Rayshad Williams.
Bears senior RB Abram Smith rushed 30 times for 117 yards and one touchdown. That score was on a four-yard run in the second quarter to put Baylor up 17-3. Smith also caught two passes for 22 yards. Saturday marked the sixth time on the season that Smith has rushed for over 100-yards, as he now has 1,334 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns on the season.
Baylor finished the regular season with a 7-0 home record for the first time since 2013. BU has notched 10 wins for the sixth time in the last 11 seasons. It’s also the seventh 10-win season in program history. The Bears held a 12th opponent at or below its season scoring average. Texas Tech’s 24 points were 6.5 below its season average entering the game.
Oklahoma State already was in the Big 12 title game but kept Oklahoma from taking the other spot by beating the Sooners 37-33. Spencer Sanders threw for a touchdown and ran for another as OSU kept alive its College Football Playoff chances and stopped the Sooners’ streak of Big 12 titles at six.
Oklahoma got the ball one last time at its 20- with 54 seconds remaining and no timeouts. Caleb Williams scrambled and ran 56 yards to put the Sooners in scoring range. But Oklahoma State’s Collin Oliver sacked Williams on fourth down at the Oklahoma State 32 with eight seconds remaining, setting off a wild celebration. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy won for just the third time in 17 tries against Oklahoma. Now, the Cowboys can win their first Big 12 title since 2011.
Baylor lost at Oklahoma State 24-14 on Oct. 2. OSU’s Sanders passed for 182 yards and a touchdown and ran for 76 yards, but he helped Baylor stay in the game by throwing three interceptions. Jaylen Warren ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns and Tay Martin caught seven passes for 108 yards for the Cowboys. Smith rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown for Baylor.
Appalachian State at Louisiana (+3)
Sun Belt Conference title game on Louisiana’s home field at 3:30 PM ET. This will be the final game as Louisiana coach for Billy Napier as he will take over at Florida. Napier, 42, has been at Louisiana the past four seasons and led the Ragin’ Cajuns to 10 or more wins in each of the past three seasons. Before his arrival, Louisiana had never won 10 games in a season in program history. Napier becomes the fourth Florida head coach since 2014.
Louisiana was the West Division champion of the Sun Belt and its lone loss of the season was in the opener out of conference vs. Texas. The Cajuns closed the year with a 21-16 win over Louisiana Monroe on Saturday. Senior quarterback Levi Lewis drove the offense in the victory, throwing for 163 yards and contributing a 20-yard rushing score early in the contest. Louisiana’s defense was stiff once again, holding an opponent under 20 points for the seventh time this season and recording 7.0 tackles-for-loss and 2.0 sacks.
Appalachian State won the East Division and closed the season with a 27-3 home win over Georgia Southern on Saturday. The Mountaineers recorded four sacks and held Georgia Southern to 194 yards in posting the stingiest defensive showing against the Eagles since a 19-0 playoff shutout in 1987. In the final four games of the regular season, the Mountaineers allowed a combined 31 points. App State led just 10-3 after Georgia Southern made a 38-yard field goal in the final minute of the third quarter, but Virgil returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for the score.
The Mountaineers have won 10 games for the fifth time in eight FBS seasons. It was their third time reaching 10 regular-season wins as an FBS program (2015, 2019). App State has outscored its opponents 103-17 over its last three games and 151-31 over its last four games, all Sun Belt wins.
App State was crushed 41-13 at Louisiana on Oct. 12. Lewis threw for one touchdown and ran for another, and Chris Smith added two rushing scores. Louisiana scored a touchdown on its first three drives and led 20-6 at the break. Eric Garror intercepted a pass on Appalachian State’s opening possession of the second half, leading to Smith’s 21-yard run. App State turned it over four times.
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