According to my PlayStation, Oklahoma State has a slight advantage over Utah this Saturday.
I simulated the Cowboys’ home matchup against the Utes 10 times on EA Sports College Football 25. Clear weather, a 3:30 kickoff time (the closest I could get to 3 p.m.) and 15-minute quarters were used for The O’Colly‘s 10 simulations.
Below are the results:
The average winner, score
OSU went 6-4 against Utah, winning the final two sims after going 4-4 in the first eight.
In the Cowboys’ six wins, the average margin of victory was 11 points. The Utes’ four wins came from an average of 3.25 points.
Overall, the Cowboys won by an average of 5.5 points, which would cover the game’s 2.5-point spread.
Cowboy statistics
On average, OSU had 368 yards of total offense against the Utes. Utah, on the other hand, had 337.3 yards of total offense in the 10 sims.
Alan Bowman completed 55.2% of his passes and totaled 187.5 through the air to go along with 2.1 touchdowns and 0.5 interceptions per game.
Ollie Gordon II averaged 6.52 yards per carry and 124.6 yards per game on the ground. He couldn’t find the end zone easily, though, as he only averaged 0.3 touchdowns per game. No fumbles from any game, though, so that’s a positive.
In the wide receiver room, Brennan Presley caught an average of 4.2 passes per game for 82.2 yards and 1.2 touchdowns; De’Zhaun Stribling caught an average of 2.1 passes per game for 24.3 yards and 0.2 touchdowns (yikes); and Rashod Owens caught an average of 2.1 passes per game for 38.7 yards and 0.5 touchdowns.
On the defense, linebacker Nick Martin led the team in tackles five times (and tied with safety Lyrik Rawls once), Rawls did that twice (and the tie with Martin) and safety Ty Williams and defensive back Cam Smith did once.
Finally, kicker Logan Ward went 18-for-25 on field goals and 27-for-27 on extra points. The field goal stats seem a little harsh for Ward, who has made seven of his eight field goals after three games.
More results
The longest play from scrimmage in any simulation was an 81-yard Bowman to Stribling pass in the eighth simulation, which the Cowboys won 24-23.
The seventh simulation was the only one to go into overtime, as Utah won 42-40 in double overtime. Both teams scored on their first possessions, and after a Utah touchdown and 2-point conversion, OSU failed to respond, as a Brennan Presley touchdown catch was overshadowed by an Alan Bowman incompletion on the game-tying conversion attempt.
Well, if EA Sports is right, Bowman is going to have an off game after Tulsa, Gordon is going to get back to his running wild ways and Ward is going to miss some field goals.
But despite all of that, OSU’s going to win by five or so points.
sports.ed@ocolly.com
