Handicapper: Favored Texas A&M too much for Bielema, Arkansas

For a loose talker who has won just two Southeastern Conference games in 16 tries, Arkansas' Bret Bielema certainly rubs some of his fellow coaches the wrong way.

After Texas Tech disposed of Arkansas 35-24 in Fayetteville last week, Red Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury took the microphone and spoke of how his team had kicked the Razorbacks' backsides.

Kingsbury also commented that Texas A&M would likely do the same to Arkansas this weekend in Arlington, Texas. The youthful Texas Tech coach was upset about comments made by Bielema about the state of Big 12 football at a Texas high school coaches clinic.

Predictably, Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin wanted no part of the tiff when asked about it this week.

For all his big talk and bravado, Bielema enters his third season in the SEC with a conference record of 2-14. After losing at home the past two weeks as double-digit favorites to Toledo and Texas Tech, the Razorbacks do not need talkers, they need some doers today.

Unfortunately, Texas A&M is vastly superior to either of the Hogs' past two opponents and has had Arkansas' number since joining the SEC three seasons ago.

The Aggies are loaded at quarterback with sophomore Kyle Allen, who has an NFL-caliber arm and a cast of talented pass catchers, while freshman Kyler Murray offers a change of pace at the position with his legs.

Many pundits predicted grand things for Arkansas this year, but that was probably ill-advised. The Razorbacks lost loads of defensive talent in the front seven. To compound matters, they are without two of their top offensive weapons, tailback Jonathan Williams and wide receiver Keon Hatcher, due to injury.

Look for Texas A&M to add to Arkansas' woes. Play the Aggies as 7-point favorites.

Six more plays for Saturday (home team in CAPS):

NEBRASKA (-21) over Southern Mississippi — The Cornhuskers (1-2) and first-year coach Mike Riley are two plays away from being 3-0.

In last week's 56-50 road victory over Texas State, Southern Miss allowed 29 first downs and 591 total yards to the Bobcats. The Cornhuskers are smarting, and look for them to vent their frustrations on the Golden Eagles.

MISSISSIPPI (-26) over Vanderbilt — This is not the ideal spot for Mississippi, which still could be coasting in the clouds on the heels of its second straight victory over Alabama. This, however, is a Rebels squad whose lineups on both sides of the ball are littered with future NFL Draft choices. Mississippi has exceeded 70 points twice this season.

New Mexico (-3½) over WYOMING — The Cowboys are a miserable 6-14 ATS in their past 20 games as home underdogs. The superior Lobos, who have covered four of the past five meetings in the series, should win by a touchdown or more.

Rice-BAYLOR (Over 74½) — OK, it's only two games and the opponents were Southern Methodist and Lamar, but Baylor's 10.3 yards-per-play average makes it clear the Bears will not miss an offensive beat under first-year starting quarterback Sean Russell.

Although accomplished against a collective trifecta of featherweights (Wagner, Texas and North Texas), Rice is averaging 41 points per game behind dual-threat senior quarterback Driphus Jackson. Since the start of the 2013 season, 14 of 15 Baylor games have gone over the total when the Bears are favored by 20 or more points.

TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO (+10) over Colorado State — The Roadrunners have had few bright spots this season en route to a 0-3 start against one of the nation's toughest schedules to date, with last week's 69-14 thumping at the hands of Oklahoma State clearly the low point. Texas-San Antonio was plagued by seven turnovers in that contest, with two fumbles returned for touchdowns.

The Rams are in a classic sandwich spot, coming off last week's overtime loss to Colorado and with their Mountain West opener at Utah State on deck.

Oklahoma State (-3) over TEXAS — Redshirt freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard energized the Longhorns last week with his school-record 527 total yards in a crushing 45-44 home loss to California. While Heard's legs give the offense reasons for optimism, Texas' most significant issue is a young defense lacking a top pass rusher and shutdown corner.

Cowboys coach Mike Gundy's teams always seem to outperform expectations and have had solid results in recent years in Austin. The road team has won the past six meetings between these Big 12 rivals.

Last week: 1-2-2 against the spread

Season: 4-8-3

Paul Stone of VegasSportsAuthority.com is providing college football analysis for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.