Oklahoma Vs Texas College Football Expert Picks

Posted by Joe Solari on Friday,October 7, 2016 6:03, EDT in

The annual Red River Showdown is here, and both the Texas Longhorns and the No. 20 Oklahoma Sooners are licking their chops for it. Last year, the Longhorns treated us to arguably the biggest upset of the season as they bamboozled the Sooners in a 24-17 victory, a win that saw them comfortably claim the SU and ATS wins in the game as 16.5-point underdogs. Can the Longhorns pull another surprise as 11.5-point underdogs in this year’s fixture when the two teams square it out at the Cotton Bowl this Saturday? Join us as we preview this college football betting lines classic.

Analyzing The Sooners Vs Longhorns College Football Expert Picks

When: Saturday, October 08, 2016 12:00 PM ET
Where: Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas
TV: FS1
Live Stream: FOX Sports GO
NCAAF Lines: Oklahoma (-11), OVER/UNDER 73

 

 

Why Bet on Oklahoma

Things haven’t gone according to plan for the Oklahoma Sooners, who’ve already tallied twice as many losses as they did in the entire 2015 regular-season. Oklahoma’s biggest problem so far has been its ability to limit mobile quarterbacks, failing to contain Houston’s Greg Ward Jr. in their season-opening loss to Houston, and then crumbling to J.T. Barrett and Ohio State two weeks after that. Facing Texas’ dual-threat QB Tyrone Swoopes won’t be easy, but after finding a way slow down the No. 21 TCU in Fort Worth in a 52-46 victory last week, there may be hope after all for OU. This should especially be encouraged by the fact that Texas’ defense has been damn porous this season, allowing a total of 153 points and ranking 116th nationally in scoring defense through four games.

Why Bet on Texas

Though Oklahoma has won 4 of the last 6 overall meetings against Texas, the Longhorns have won 2 of the last 3 meetings against OU, including last year’s spectacular upset over the Sooners. In addition, the Sooners, going by their season so far, are a less scary unit from the team they were last season, having split their four games this season and struggling defensively in nearly all their games. But with the Longhorns also having defensive issues of their own (Texas allowed 99 points in the two losses to California and Oklahoma State over the past two weeks); this D must improve and find ways of limiting the lethal two-headed Baker Mayfield-led Oklahoma offense that can run and pass the ball with great efficiency.

Expert NCAAF Predictions and Picks

The Sooners are the better team here, at least on paper, and their supremacy will highly likely earn them the win this Saturday. Even so, the Longhorns tend to take this rivalry very seriously, as is affirmed by the fact that they’ve covered the spread in 7 of their last 11 meetings against OU, and we believe that this seriousness will show once again this year. I mean, if the Longhorns were able to deliver an outright upset over Oklahoma last year as 16-point underdogs at a time when Texas was playing very poorly, putting up a strong effort to cover the spread should be possible now that they are playing better football this year.

Predicted Final Score: Oklahoma 41, Texas 35

Writer’s Pick: Texas (+11), OVER 73