In the afternoon window of the Week 2 college football slate, the No. 6 Oregon Ducks (1-0) do battle with the Oklahoma State Cowboys (1-0) at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. This looks like it may become a lopsided affair, but can the Cowboys rise to the occasion and keep things competitive against the Ducks?
Find out below with an Oregon Ducks vs. Oklahoma State prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Oregon Ducks vs. Oklahoma State preview, prediction
No. 6 Oregon Ducks
Oregon finished the 2024 regular season with a 13-1 record and an unbeaten 9-0 Big Ten campaign. However, they ultimately fell short in an embarrassing blowout loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes during the College Football Playoff, so the Ducks certainly have a bad taste in their mouth in 2025. While the sting of that loss lingers for the program, they return just two starters on offense and three on defense — it’s obviously early, but they still look like a top contender going into Week 2.
The Ducks downed an FCS program, Montana State, in a 59-13 Week 1 win. That season debut saw Dante Moore make his first start under center with a wonderful 18-for-23 performance, tossing for 213 yards and three touchdowns. It was an efficient outing, even without wideout Evan Stewart, who tore his patellar tendon over the summer and will miss most (if not all) of the season. In his stead, Malik Benson paced the team with five catches for 51 yards and a score while Moore spread the ball around. The ground game also looked strong headlined by Noah Whittington’s 10 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown, and the defense largely performed well with just 244 yards allowed on the night. Oregon maintains a reputation as a scary foe for any team.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Oklahoma State fell off the map last season, finishing just 3-9 on the season with a winless 0-9 run through the Big 12. 2024 was largely a disaster in Stillwater, and Mike Gundy must answer plenty of questions going into the still-new campaign. That feels especially true given just one returning offensive starter from last year’s team alongside three on the defensive side of things.
Gundy and his staff did hit the portal hard to address those problems, dipping into that talent to replace the other eight starters on offense as well as four on defense. The Cowboys won their Week 1 contest 27-7 against another FCS school in UT Martin, and the offense did largely click with 359 total yards while converting 10 of 18 third downs. Quarterback Zane Flores completed 13-of-20 passes for 136 yards, though he didn’t log a touchdown on the night. The run game didn’t see an efficient night as Kalib Hicks tallied just 56 scoreless yards on 21 carries and only one rusher with three or more touches averaged greater than 3.6 YPC. However, wideout Terrill Davis caught a pair of passes for 75 yards and Shamar Rigby hauled in two for 50. The defense allowed just 225 yards and didn’t allow a score following the first quarter, too.
Oregon Ducks vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Oregon sees a listing as a 27.5-point favorite with -5000 odds on the Moneyline. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, hold +1800 odds to pull off an upset on the Moneyline. The game total sits at a combined 55.5 points.
Look, the Ducks are favored this heavily for a reason. We’ve seen a once-competitive Cowboys team turned into a struggling program over the last year, and it’s pretty clear Oklahoma State will need to do some serious soul-searching to replace Ollie Gordon III, because even in a down year he served as the engine of their offense. To be fair to Montana State, they’re usually one of the better teams in the FCS, but it’s still not particularly encouraging to see the Cowboys only score 27 points to open their season last week as well.
If that means anything — and it very well might — the Ducks are in for a treat against an offense that looks almost entirely different than it did last season and will need time to really develop chemistry. The vibes simply aren’t great in that Oklahoma State program. This Week 2 contest probably won’t serve as too much of a test for the Ducks, and between the their own firepower on both sides of the ball and their opponents’ lack thereof, I actually do believe they can win this game and win by four touchdowns to cover the spread. I fully expect Oregon to rise a spot or two in the next AP poll after a dominant showing.
