Oklahoma Football 2016 Opener: Sooners Favored by 10 Points Over Houston
By Chip Rouse
When the 2016 edition of Oklahoma football kicks off against the University of Houston on Sept. 3 in Houston, the Sooners will be going up against the country’s 10-highest scoring team last season.
Las Vegas has the Sooners as 10-point favorites on the road against a very good Houston team, which ended the 2015 season ranked No. 8 in the final Associated Press poll.
Both teams appear to be strong offensively, so you can expect a lot of points to be scored. The bet in Las Vegas seems to be weighted on Oklahoma getting enough stops on defense and slowing down Houston quarterback Greg Ward and the potent Cougar offense enough for the Sooners to win the most important game stat: the points on the scoreboard.
Regardless, by establishing the Sooners as a double-digit favorite on the road in Week 1 of the 2016 college football season the Las Vegas sports books are expressing their belief that perception and reality are in alignment insofar as the expectations for Bob Stoops and his troops this season.
For sure, the Sooner defense, which may or may not be without All-big 12 cornerback Jordan Thomas for the Houston game, is going to have to come to play for Oklahoma to pull off the road conquest on a straight-up basis, let alone covering the spread.
Don’t be surprised if some college football writers and analysts call for an upset alert in picking this game. Although it would seem a bit odd to me calling a win by a ranked Houston team, on a neutral field in the heart of Houston that is as good as a home field for the Cougars, an upset.
I believe Oklahoma will win this game, although to say the Sooners will win by 10 points seems a bit generous for my confidence level.
It’s worth noting, however, that the Sooners are 15-3 since 1998 in their road opener. I know someone out there is going to challenge that assertion by claiming that none of those opening road games were against teams ranked as high as Houston. And to that person(s) I say: Not so.
In Oklahoma’s national championship season in 2000, the Sooners defeated a No. 2-ranked Kansas State team 41-31 on the road, and in 2011 they went on the road in game two that season and knocked off fifth-ranked Florida State 23-13.
Notice anything interesting about the aforementioned two road victories? Both were by 10-point margins. Go figure.