Oklahoma football: 5 bold predictions for opener against Houston

We go out on a limb and make a few predictions going into Oklahoma football’s season opener.

Oklahoma football opens the season in less than a week with a rare Sunday night matchup against Houston with more than a few things still up in the air. So what exactly can we expect from the Sooners in their season opener?

Here are five bold predictions.

Houston will score at least 21 points

Alex Grinch or no, the Sooners aren’t going to completely shut down the Cougars this season. They have a great offensive mind in Dana Holgerson and one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country in D’Eriq King.

King is a scary prospect because of his speed and throwing ability, a dual threat quarterback that will give Holgerson tons of options to attack a Sooner defense that is still settling in to a new scheme.

Some people might panic because of the points put up on the board, but honestly there will be some other bright spots, which we will get to next.

The Sooners will force at least two turnovers

Alex Grinch recently said anything less than two turnovers was unacceptable. The defense is built on them and it’s the goal on every down when Oklahoma takes the field.

This renewed since of urgency to get the ball combined with some sloppy first-game play will result an the OU defense handing the ball back to the offense at least twice and two extra chances for the Sooners’ attack is always dangerous.

Jalen Hurts will throw for over 300 yards

The talented Alabama quarterback has a national title under his belt, but has only thrown for over 300 yards once in his illustrious career so far.

That number will double on Sunday as the Sooners have to turn up the dial for at least three quarters against Houston. Yes, there will be some running the ball as well, but we’ll get to see Hurts the gunslinger in a coming out party that will have college football talking.

At least one freshman receiver will catch a touchdown

With four highly-touted pass catchers in the 2019 recruiting class the Sooners are expecting big things out of this freshman group.

Those big expectations will only continue to grow on Sunday when either Theo Wease, Jadon Haselwood, Trejan Bridges or Austin Stogner snags a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass.

Those guys will all four see the field and it’s just a matter of time before they figure out how to get into the end zone. I am guessing that happens sooner rather than later.

The game will be within two scores at halftime

I fully expect the Sooners to explode on offense and get some big plays on defense, but it’s going to take some time to pull away from the pesky cougars. I predict Houston comes out with a unique game plan, gets a couple of big plays early before the Sooner defense is able to figure things out.

While I expect it to be close-ish in the first half, I believe the Sooners depth and talent will be too much to overcome in the second half as Oklahoma pulls away for a 45-24 victory to make Lincoln Riley a perfect 3-0 in season openers as the OU head coach.