3 reasons Oklahoma State will beat Wisconsin in 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl

Here are three reasons why the Oklahoma State football team will beat Wisconsin in the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl. 

The college football bowl season will really start to pick up on Tuesday with four games on the schedule including the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl between Oklahoma State football and Wisconsin.

The Cowboys are 7-5 and looking for an eighth win, while Wisconsin is 6-6 and has a new head coach in Luke Fickell. Fickell is going to be on the sideline during this game as the head coach and Jim Leonhard is going to run the defense.

Yet, Leonhard won’t stay on staff and it’s a weird situation all around. Both teams are without their starters at quarterback and each has been dealt some blows in the transfer portal.

Yet, here are three reasons why Oklahoma State football will prevail and win the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

Coaching continuity

Jim Leonhard essentially seems like he will be the head coach for this game but it’s a strange situation as we said. Surely, he will want to win his last game with the Badgers, but Wisconsin has lost some key pieces to the portal.

Braelon Allen isn’t one of them which is probably the No. 1 reason to be the most optimistic about the chances of Wisconsin winning this game, but the players have to feel a pull in separate directions.

Bowl games are all about motivation and if Wisconsin is motivated to win for Leonhard, it will have a good shot, but the coaching dynamic should give Oklahoma State football an edge since all of the pieces have been moving in the same direction since the end of the season.

An offensive guru

Oklahoma State is dealing with a lot. Spencer Sanders has entered the transfer portal and so did the Cowboys leading rusher.

Still, if there is one thing we have learned about Mike Gundy is that he knows how to produce yards/points on the offensive side of the ball even without elite personnel.

Oklahoma State football is likely going to use two quarterbacks with one of them being Gundy’s son Gunnar and also Garret Rangel.

The two have combined for five touchdowns this season and seven interceptions. Yet, the Cowboys have Ollie Gordon and Jaden Nixon, two freshmen who each averaged over four yards per carry to run the ball with and that’s going to be the key.

This is the time for young players to emerge and without the distraction of a coaching change, Oklahoma State will probably have more success in that area than Wisconsin.

An uncertain QB situation

The Badgers are choosing between Chase Wolf and freshman Myles Burkett. Wolf has 31 career pass attempts but they have just 11 this season.

Oklahoma State struggled on defense this season but it faced a bunch of explosive offensive attacks in the Big Ten. The 4.6 yards allowed per rushing attempt is the biggest thing that would worry me as a Cowboys fan.

Yet, if the defense can load the box against a below-average passing attack, which Wisconsin was even with its preferred starter at quarterback, it should neutralize the threat of Allen a bit.

The loss of Spencer Sanders hurts too but in a battle of backup quarterbacks, Oklahoma State football should have the slight edge and it could allow the Cowboys to win an ugly game in the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl.