The second ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will dance with the seventh ranked Oklahoma Sooners in an early season showdown Saturday night in the Horse Shoe. The game between the two top flight universities is scheduled for Saturday, September 9th at 7:30 p.m. EST. ABC will be showing the contest for your viewing pleasure. As of today, line-setters have the Buckeyes as a -7.5 point favorite and the game’s over/under at 64.5.
The Oklahoma Sooners crushed UTEP in their season opener to the tune of 56-7. The Sooners came out on fire, jumping to a big lead at half-time and never looked back. The Buckeyes traveled to Indiana and handed the Hoosiers their first loss of the season 49-21. In that affair, Ohio State struggled to get anything going in the first half but turned on the jets and blew out Indiana in the second.
(6) Oklahoma Sooners (1-0)
The Sooners did just what Las Vegas said they would and dominated the UTEP Miners by a 56-7 score in their season opener. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was deadly accurate, connecting on 19 of his 20 passes for 329 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
The senior signal-caller is looking to post huge numbers after accumulating 3,965 passing yards with 40 touchdowns and only eight picks a year ago. As expected, Mayfield is a prime candidate for the Heisman heading into this season.
Oklahoma got plenty of production from their pass catchers in their easy win over the Miners on Saturday. Tight end Mark Andrews had a tremendous afternoon, racking up 134 receiving yards on seven catches and added one score to the tally sheet. Also, three other wide outs caught scoring strikes from Baker Mayfield and 12 receivers contributed to moving the chains.
The Sooners did not have a obvious choice out of the back field now that Joe Mixon has moved on to play for the Bengals. Abdul Adams led the way on the ground last week, rushing for 53 yards off seven carries.
Altogether, Oklahoma rushed for 180 yards on 38 carries and six tail backs had at least four carries or more. As a result, three of the crew found their way into the back of the end zone.
Defensively, the Sooners had an easy afternoon of work in the week one win. Consequently, they surrendered only 167 total yards and 11 first downs for the day. Oklahoma’s greatest strength lies in the secondary, and they will surely be tested a lot more on the road in Ohio this weekend against J.T. Barrett.
(2) Ohio State Buckeyes (1-0)
The Ohio State Buckeyes recovered from a slow start on the road and were able to flex their muscle after half-time in their 49-21 win over the Hoosiers last week. The star of the game was freshman running back J.K. Dobbins.
J.K. Dobbins was unstoppable, carrying the rock 29 carries for 181 yards but was kept out of the end zone. Mid-way through the fourth quarter, the talented youngster begged to be put back into the game to get his score but was denied by his offensive coordinator. At the end of the day, Ohio State rushed the football 51 times for over 250 yards and three scores.
Is it me or you or has J.T. Barrett been a Buckeye for like a decade now? Once again, Barrett was under center and stepped up his performance as the game went along. All totaled, the Heisman candidate passed for 304 yards and three touchdowns. The dual-threat athlete also scrambled for 61 yards and another score.
Junior receiver Paris Campbell let the college football world know that he has returned to lead the Buckeyes receiving corps. Campbell led all receivers with six receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown. The junior wide out has already eclipsed his 2016 season total of 121 yards.
Like the offense, the Ohio State defense imposed their will in the second half of the contest. When the dust had settled, they had recorded five sacks and two interceptions.
Defensive end Tyquan Lewis made two of the sacks last week and is poised for a monster season after making eight sacks last year. Ohio State did lose a few key pieces from last season at all three of the levels. However they have plenty of talented players that are able to fit right in and make an impact immediately.
Prediction
Let me get down to the brass tax in this one. I am taking the points with Oklahoma in this match-up. Las Vegas is gifting me the half point hook and I’ve already take full advantage of it. Here is why.
The Buckeyes surrendered 410 passing yards against the Hoosiers last week, and now they have Baker Mayfield to contend with. That could mean big trouble for a young and inexperienced secondary. In fact, the Sooners might actually throw the ball more than Indiana did.
Furthermore, Oklahoma will field a a skilled secondary that will give J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes a tough time through the passing game. Ohio State is plenty capable of moving the football but to outscore the Sooners by a touchdown in this game is very debatable.
The game’s total sits at 64.5 and this also makes perfect sense to me. For this total to hit, both teams will need to move the football and score in the red zone. Both will. I expect this battle to be highly contested throughout. So, choose your bet. The over is ripe for the pickens’, but I chose to bet on the underdog once again.
Trends
The Sooners are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
The Sooners are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games.
The Under is 5-2 in the Sooners last 7 games overall.
The Over is 14-6-1 in the Sooners last 21 road games.
The Buckeyes are 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 games in September.
The Buckeyes are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
The Over is 4-0 in the Buckeyes last 4 games on fieldturf.
The Under is 9-3 in the Buckeyes last 12 games following a ATS win.
Join the Rainmaker and myself for our 5th addition of our NCAA College Football Throwdown Podcast on September 7th. We will be previewing all the upcoming games for Week Two and discussing the contest’s spreads and totals. We also will be giving our dog picks of the week as well as in-depth coverage of some of the weekend’s biggest games.
As of now, I’m cranking out winners at a 58 percent clip for the getmoresports.com readers and hope to push that over the 60 percent mark by the weekend’s end. Again, come join us for some valuable betting advice that could directly effect your pocket books come Monday.
