The Oklahoma Sooners are just two home wins away from locking a spot in the College Football Playoff, so now they just can’t mess it up.
The No. 8 Sooners host the No. 22 Missouri Tigers, who so badly want this to be considered a rivalry, at 11 a.m. CT Saturday at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. OU will welcome LSU next week, and if the Sooners finish the season at 10-2, they could even earn another home game in the first round of the CFP.
Score prediction for Oklahoma-Missouri
Mizzou, at 7-3, was also just in the playoff hunt before losing back-to-back games to Vanderbilt and Texas A&M. The Tigers lost their starting quarterback, Beau Pribula, against Vanderbilt, so had to finish both of those losses without their QB1. Pribula, though, could return for the Tigers a week after they handled Mississippi State 49-27 without him and returned to the CFP top 25.
Regardless if Pribula plays or not, the Tigers will still rely on Ahmad Hardy, who leads all of college football with 1,346 rushing yards. He’s also ninth in the country in rush attempts.
The problem with that for the Tigers is that they’re a one-dimensional team and that style creates ugly games that are decided on defensive plays. And that’s when the Sooners are at their best.
The Sooners have the fourth-best rushing defense in the country while allowing just 82.2 yards a game on the ground. Michigan’s Justice Haynes in Week 2 has been the only running back this season that’s been able to run for 100 yards against this OU defense. However, 75 of his 125 rushing yards came on one touchdown run. It’s been season-low efforts for everyone else.
That defensive front will also make it hard when the Tigers do try to throw the ball. Mizzou backup QB Matt Zollers isn’t very mobile, and Pribula can be, but he’d be playing on an ankle he dislocated less than a month ago. The Tigers also give up 2.2 sacks a game.
Matchups and history favor the Sooners against the Tigers on Saturday.
The Sooners have been in plenty of situations before where they needed a win over Mizzou to accomplish bigger and better things, and they almost always prevailed. The cool thing about history is that it repeats itself, and it will again on Saturday.
Prediction: Oklahoma 27, Missouri 10